Only Buhari can remove Lamorde – PSC

the Police Service Commission on Thursday declared that only President Muhammadu Buhari could remove from office the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde.

According to the PSC, says the Inspector-General of Police lacks the power to remove Lamorde from the EFCC chair, though he remains a policeman.

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The PSC’s commissioner in charge of the media, Comfort Obi, said, “It is not the Force headquarters that can redeploy him, his case has not even come before the Police Service Commission and it has not been discussed.

“Lamorde was appointed by the Presidency and unless he is going for a course, then the police can send him for a course after discussing with the Police Service Commission and the Presidency. His tenure is still running.

“Unless the President deems it fit to remove him from office as chairman of EFCC, we cannot interfere. Lamorde’s case has not come before the PSC and it has not been discussed.”

Obi spoke in Abuja in reaction to speculations that the IG, Solomon Arase, had written to withdraw Lamorde and other policemen that had stayed for more than five years with the EFCC.

Lamorde has been with the anti-graft agency since 2003 and has served in different capacities, including two times as acting chairman, before he finally assumed the EFCC chair in 2012.

The EFCC chairman is currently undergoing probe by the Senate for alleged diversion of funds and properties recovered from looters.

The Senate probe commenced on Wednesday with Lamorde’s accuser, Dr. George Uboh, alleging that the EFCC boss connived with other officers of the commission to steal from money recovered from a former IG, Tafa Balogun, and a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Both Balogun and Alamieyeseigha had undergone trial, found guilty of corruption and sentenced. To mitigate their punishment, they had agreed to return to the Federal Government money and properties with values running to several billions.

The EFCC has however described the petition to the Senate as “flawed” and the allegations therein as “pieces of rubbish.”

When asked if the commission had received any letter of redeployment from the Force headquarters in respect of the EFCC chairman, Obi said no such letter was on the PSC’s table.

She explained that Lamorde could be re-appointed for another term in office if it pleased the Presidency.

The PSC spokeswoman said, “I think the first tenure is four or five years now, I can’t remember, after which it now depends on the President to re-appoint him or not to re-appoint him. If he did not re-appoint him, then the police would redeploy him.

“If he were to be redeployed, the IG would send a recommendation to the PSC and as I speak to you, we don’t have such a recommendation.

“If the Presidency feels he has served his full tenure, a new person would be appointed. Of course, the IG will redeploy him and send his name to the PSC for consideration, for clearance and confirmation. It is the IG’s job to send his name to us and because it is not on the table of the PSC, I cannot comment on that.

“If his tenure had expired, it is not the IG that appointed him, his appointment came from the Presidency; but of course, he is a policeman first and foremost, it is the PSC that promoted him to the commissioner rank. If the Presidency won’t re-appoint him, the Presidency will tell the IG, ‘this is your officer, his tenure has expired, he is not likely to be re-appointed,’ in which case, as soon as the presidency removes him as chairman of the commission, he will report to the Force headquarters, that is back to base. It will now be the job of the Force headquarters to redeploy him to somewhere else and inform the PSC, it is the job of the commission to actually deploy policemen. That is how it works.”

Section 3 (1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act (2004) states, “The Chairman and members of the Commission other than ex-officio members shall hold office for a period of four years and may be re-appointed for a further term of four years and no more.”

A senior police officer at the police headquarters in Abuja confided in our correspondents that there was indeed a letter by the IG to the EFCC but that the letter was not targeted at Lamorde.

The letter, which was dispatched to the EFCC in July, 2015, sought to redeploy police officers that had spent about five years and above at the agency, the source said.

“The question is, was there a letter to the EFCC about redeployment of policemen, the answer is ‘yes.’ Was the letter targeted at removing Lamorde? Of course ‘no’. Redeployment of policemen in the EFCC is a routine procedure that the IG carries out from time to time, so for anyone to say the letter was targeted at Lamorde is mischievous and unfortunate. I don’t know why everything in Nigeria is looked at from ethnic and religious angles, that is why we are not progressing,” the officer said.

The Presidency insisted on Thursday that there was no plan to replace Lamorde yet.

“What I told you on Wednesday remains my point on the issue, I have no information about any replacement for Lamorde now,” the source, who asked not to be named, said.

In all, 280 policemen, out of the 400 currently serving with the EFCC, are expected to be recalled, according to the IG’s directive.

A source, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that some of the policemen had been with the commission since its inception in 2004, though he said some would be allowed to remain in order not to weaken the operations of the anti-graft commission.

The EFCC depends largely on the activities of police detectives on secondment to the commission for its operations.

The commission has a total of 600 civilian operatives trained abroad, who work alongside the police personnel to carry out the task of investigating financial crimes in the country.

The source said, “Well, for now, nothing is happening here; we are doing our job. This IG directive to recall policemen serving with the commission and to replace them is routine.

“They are supposed to be replaced every five years. They will post another set of policemen to the commission.

“The directive does not affect all the policemen; it would only affect those who have spent five years and above.”

When our correspondent contacted the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, he said that he was not aware of the directive from the IGP.

“I am not aware of the directive you are talking about,” he said.