Being the title of a press statement by Comrade Akinloye Olusegun Oyeniyi, Chairman, Vanguard For Credible Representation (VFCR), at a media briefing on Wednesday, 9th September 2015, at Abuja FCT, on the refusal of Mr Ibrahim Lamorde to appear before the senate to defend fraud allegations against him.
Gentlemen of the press, It has been two weeks now since the nation was greeted with series of weighty allegations of fraud against the EFCC Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde as contained in a petition submitted to the Senate by a whistleblower, Mr George Uboh. You will recall that on Wednesday August 26, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions had held a public hearing on the allegations of fraud against Lamorde but he snubbed the panel.
Two weeks after, Mr Lamorde is still yet to appear before the Senate Committee or offer the Nigerian public whose taxes are being used to pay his salary and fund the agency, any explanation or defense. We found this strange, abnormal and ridiculous.
Is Mr Lamorde saying that the allegations that he shared properties recovered from former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun and ex-governor of Bayelsa State , Diepreye Alamiaeseigha among his brothers and other relations, apart from diversion of billions of naira not grave enough to defend?
Even when the name of his brother, Usman Lamorde was mentioned as a beneficiary of the senseless re-looting of our commonwealth under the guise of fighting corruption? Maybe we need to remind ourselves that the Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led Ethics committee was told under oath by George Uboh in his oral submission based on the documents before the committee that Former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, during an interaction, told him that the amount declared by the EFCC was a far cry from what was seized from him.
He also explained to the committee, how the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, was intimidated by the Lamorde’s EFCC to, stop a legal process initiated to recover the shortfall of Alamieyeseigha’s money back to the Bayelsa State treasury. He emphatically said that Lamorde’s EFCC is yet to remit N2.051trn to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while asking that Access Bank Plc should be compelled to bring complete and unadulterated statements of the Commission from 2004 till date.
He also asked the senate to invite Aminu Ibrahim and co, a firm of auditors, to appear before it to shed light on the looting carried out by Lamorde. He said, contrary to the provisions of Section 36 of EFCC (Establishment) Act of 2004, the anti – graft agency failed to remit over N1tn. He alleged that the summary of EFCC monetary recoveries from March 2003 – March 2013 (11 financial years), was N497.385bn and that the agency did not mention where the amounted was remitted to.
He also said that the letter written by the EFCC to the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, in 2012 stated that the aggregate recoveries from 2004 to 2011 (8 financial years) was N1.326 trn without details of remittances.
“How can recoveries for eight financial years be more than recoveries for 11 financial years by over N800bn when the eight financial years are subsumed in the 11 financial years? Why do recoveries for the same years differ on different reports? It should be noted that the two documents submitted were prepared under the chairmanship of Lamorde. “Compare the first two submissions emanating from EFCC.
The 2011 submission is over N800bn higher than the 2013 submission despite two additional years of naira recoveries in the 2013 submission. Based on the records, because EFCC has not been able to account for over N800bn, EFCC manipulated the above records and grossly understated recoveries in order to conceal the fraud”, the petitioner had asked.
He revealed that, "In a December 02, 2011 letter EFCC sent to the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, EFCC stated that the aggregate recoveries from 2004 to 2011 (8 financial years) was N1,326,754,554,482:80. EFCC did not mention where the N1.3 Trillion recovered was remitted to. EFCC’s claim that it did not recover up to a Trillion is complete false." He submitted the figures below:
2004—N7,070,693,130:00
2005—N965,651,737,039:00
2006—N6,622,261,783:79
2007—N7,700,150,381:20
2008—N18,141,628,546:98
2009—N130,885,187,726:83
2010—N52,877,464,867:00
2011—N137,805,431,008:08
He disclosed further that ”In EFCC’s “SUMMARY OF EFCC MONETARY RECOVERIES 2003-MARCH, 2013” (11 financial years), EFCC stated that the aggregate recoveries for eleven financial years is N497,385,427,485:63; EFCC did not mention where the N497.3 Billion recovered was remitted to, going by the following breakdown -
2003—N974,783,213:06
2004—N21,018,557,263:28
2005—N71,053,996,008:60
2006—N8,199,908,189:03
2007—N41,479,032,319:70
2008—N44,542,822,622:30
2009—N255,306,693,033:55
2010—N10,559,513,355:91
2011—N11,117,460,717:88
2012—N27,844,769,688:19
2013—N5,287,891,074:13
Uboh said that the documents submitted were prepared under the chairmanship of Lamorde, adding that total recoveries to be remitted as confirmed by EFCC are 1.995 Trillion + 48.9 Billion + 7.3 Billion + .4 Billion = N 2.051 Trillion. He asked, “after recovering over 2 trillion, how did the funds melt away? According to the whistleblower, "two access bank recovery account statements tendered herein show Opening balances of -0- as of 1, July 2004, but no transaction occurred until June/July 2008 respectively.
These transactions are expunged. Where are the funds deposited between July 2004 and June/July, 2008? “EFCC diverted and concealed N779 Million Naira of recoveries from Tafa Balogun in its record (aggregate should be 3,037,255,521.60 – not 2,258,100,516.98);
Instead of transferring 3.3 billion from Spring bank to its Access bank recovery account, EFCC transferred only 2.2 billion and concealed it by understating the summation of the balances in the various accounts hence the Access Bank statement had 2.2 Billion Naira after the concealment”
OUR POSITION Following these weighty and yet to be denied allegations of fraud against Mr Lamorde, in addition to his graveyard silence so far which we now interpret to mean admission of guilt, we hereby declare that Mr Lamorde has lost the moral ground to continue as the Chairman of the EFCC and demand his immediate resignation or sack by President Muhammadu Buhari. We hereby give him seven days to appear before the Committee probing the fraud allegations against him or we begin series of protest and court actions against his corrupt leadership of the EFCC.
We demand that President Buhari should sack Lamorde immediately and set up a high powered panel of eminent Nigerians to investigate Lamorde’s corrupt regime as head of EFCC. From these findings in the agency, the President and indeed Nigerians will be shocked by the level of rot therein.
Thank you.
Comrade Akinloye O O
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