Today the Senate confirmed the appointment of Ibrahim Lamorde of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes and Commission [EFCC] following a session of questions and answers at the Senate Chambers which lasted about one and half hours.
Ibrahim Larmode had been appointed to the post of acting chairman following the sacking of the former EFCC chairwoman, Farida Waziri. Ibrahim Larmorde had also been appointed the acting chairman of the Commission following the ejection of the pioneer chairman of the Commission, Nuhu Ribadu. Ibrahim Lamorde is seen as the “man behind the mask” at the EFCC. Ibrahim Lamorde is reported to have recorded over 500 arrests under his belt and over 200 convictions between 2002 and 2010.
During the Senate confrmation session, it was revealed that the EFCC had requested for funds from the federal government for the erecton of a headquarter, a 13 story building – expected to cost over N10billion. Ibrahim Lamorde was posed with the question of priority of expenditure – whether to focus its meager resources on equiping the feild agents or to focus on erecting a high cost building. Responding, Ibrahim Lamorde pointed that the EFCC operates out of five locations in Abuja because its lacks a central office in Abuja that can house the entire human and material resources of the EFCC. He also pointed out that sensitive materials are not fully secure when it has to be transfered from one office to the other.
Ibrahim Lamorde was not able to tell the senate how much the EFCC have recovered from the looters they had arrested. He could not provide an answer to how much the EFCC had recovered from its plead bargain arraingments with former governors. He was not forthcoming with answers as to the 32 missing files on the former governors.
When asked by the senate what he will do if he discovers that an agency or ministry – who had received N200billion as its budgeted funds [as in the case of NNPC] and it continues to expend the monies in excess of N600billion – ? Ibrahim Lamorde responded that he will not comment – as the investigation is still ongoing.
