The Presidency has said that President
Muhammadu Buhari will not interfere in
the ongoing probes being carried out by
the National Assembly.
It said the Senate’s probes of the
Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim
Lamorde, and the power sector from
1999 to 2015, were purely legislative
matters and that the President could not
stop them.
The Senate Committee on Business and
Ethics is currently probing an allegation of
diversion of N1tn proceeds of corruption
recovered by the EFCC.
The Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert
Security Systems, Mr. George Uboh, had,
in a petition submitted to the committee,
accused Lamorde of diverting the money.
Also, the Senate Ad-hoc committee on
power is investigating expenditures in the
power sector under former Presidents
Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and
Goodluck Jonathan.
When asked if Buhari had confidence in
the probes of Lamorde and the former
presidents, the Senior Special Adviser to
the President on Media and Publicity, Mr.
Femi Adesina, said the President could
not interfere with the probes because of
his respect for the principle separation of
powers.
Adesina, who spoke with SUNDAY
PUNCH, said, “There is separation of
powers and the Senate has the power to
conduct probes. Thus, the Presidency
does not need to endorse or oppose any
probe being carried out by the legislature.
It is within their power to do so.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry
of Power, Mr. Goodknows Igali, had on
Monday told the Senate Ad-hoc
Committee on Power that the
government had spent a total of N2.7tn
on the power sector from 1999 to date.
He said that power generation had risen
from 3,500 megawatts in 1999 to 4,600
megawatts presently.
Why we can’t investigate EFCC boss –
PSC
There is also a strong indication that the
Police Service Commission may not act on
the report of the probe of Lamorde,
which began in the Senate on August 26.
The PSC said it could not probe or
sanction Lamorde over allegations of graft
because he was not under the
commission.
The PSC Commissioner in charge of
media, Comfort Obi, said although
Lamorde is a policeman, he is not subject
to the supervision of the commission as
he is an employee of the Presidency.
Obi said she could not comment on the
allegations of graft against the EFCC
chairman because the petition against
him was not addressed to the PSC.
According to her, the petition was
addressed to the Senate, which is
investigating the allegations of graft
levelled against Lamorde.
She said, “Though the EFCC chairman is a
police officer, he is not under the Police
Service Commission. We cannot comment
on his case; he is now an employee of the
President. Besides, the petition against
him was not addressed to the Police
Service Commission; it was addressed to
the Senate, which is probing it.”
When asked if the commission discussed
the petition with the Force headquarters,
Obi said it was not discussed.
Afenifere, others dismiss probes
Some socio-political groups have
dismissed the ongoing probes in the
Senate. The pan Yoruba socio-political
group, Afenifere, described the probes as
a waste of time.
Its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka
Odumakin, in an interview with SUNDAY
PUNCH, said “If you are probing all your
immediate past presidents at the same
time and the chairman of your anti-graft
body is also under the radar for
corruption, should it not occur to you that
you have a systemic crisis?
“Probes are a mere waste of time under a
structurally defective arrangement like
this. Beyond exciting the public, nothing
is going to be achieved. What we need to
do is to smash the architecture of
corruption. If we don’t, the vicious cycle
continues.”
Uboh, had in his petition, alleged that
Lamorde fraudulently diverted over N1tn
proceeds of corruption recovered by the
anti-graft agency.
According the petitioner, part of the
money allegedly diverted by the EFCC
boss included the loot recovered from a
former Governor of Bayelsa State,
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha; and ex-
Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun.
But the commission had in an August 24
statement by its spokesperson, Wilson
Uwujaren, described Uboh’s petition as
mischievous and intended to smear
Lamorde.
The statement read in part, “The EFCC as
an agency that is founded on transparency
is not afraid of any ‘probe’ or request for
information regarding its activities by
individuals, groups or organs of
government; so far as such requests
followed due process of law.”



www.punchng.com/news/buhari-wont-interfere-with-senate-probe-of-obasanjo-others-presidency/

Good

I don't know why these people are trying so hard to deceive people who already understand their trickery and lies

Nice one

I hope the government will go on with other statutory duty and not later come up with the story of how probe took all the time needed for planning and implementation of policy that will eradicate poverty.

This probing of obasanjo is nonsense..just an eye-service endeavor.

Heheheh...

Don Bubu on the beats

Obj will visit all Senate members soon, and aso villa. Then he'd start writing letters.

I hope he does not interfere....as I hope he'd not interfere with Amaechi's probe. Amen

Pls he shouldn't interfere with anything in Nigeria, it has been agony,lost of jobs, bloodshed, blatant lies etc since he interfered with Nigeria politics..

I dey look

Good! I can't wait to have that hat-capped drunk in jail.

Okay na.

Lolz........dats y we voted Him in......d easiest way 4 Buhari. 2 impress d Nigerian youths is 2 jail as many politicians as possible wtout wch our joy won't be complete.....#gbam

when shall we commencr .

I
Dey
Laugh
In
OBJ
Voice

that's a welcome development







we are in the time of separation of powers and accountability

I go with Afenifere group on this.

The probe is a waste of time and money because those monkeys in the senate will be wasting the remaining money as their sitting allowance during the probe.