TheCable

Ibrahim Lamor‎de, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday failed to appear before the senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions a third time.

Lamorde was first scheduled to appear before the committee in August but did not to do so and his absence the second time, on November 17, made the senate threaten to sanction him if he failed to honour its invitation this time around.

Festus Keyamo, a lawyer, who represented Lamorde at the hearing of a petition against the former EFCC boss, last Tuesday, had explained that his client absence was due to some health issues.

He had said that Lamorde, who is being accused of diversion of funds, was abroad for medical treatment.

However, Samuel Anyanwu, chairman of the committee, had insisted that Lamorde must appear before it on a final date, which is Tuesday.

But the former EFCC boss failed to show up on the scheduled date.

The committee may issue a bench warrant for his arrest, having given him the latitude to appear before it.

Speaking last Tuesday, Dino Melaye, a member of the committee, pointed out that committee had the powers to summon the former EFCC, emphasising that its constitutional powers must not be undermined.

He warned that the senate should not be coerced into issuing a bench warrant for the arrest of the former anti-graft czar.

Also speaking, Obinna Ogba, another member of the committee, described Lamorde’s failure to come before the committee as an insult to the national assembly.

“Enough is enough,” he had said.

But Keyamo faulted the statements of the committee, saying that Lamorde was now a private citizen whom the senate had no jurisdiction over.

“The senate has no jurisdiction over private citizens. Lamorde’s failure to appear before the committee was because he thought as a private citizen the case as ended with his exit from the EFCC,” he had said.

Keyamo has since taken the matter to court.