You do not have powers to summon Lamorde - Keyamo tells Senate

Read what Barr Festus Keyamo told Senate when he represented former EFCC Chairman CP Ibrahim Lamorde at the Senate yesterday.

He said: “I have great respect for the Senate. I also have great respect for this distinguished committee. Unfortunately, we have a law that is superior to all of us whether it is the Senate or the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So as distinguished as this committee is, it is not greater than the constitution.

“The constitution is very clear as to those who can be subject to investigation by Sections 88, 89 of the constitution. By Sections 88, 89 of the constitution, the Senate has powers over two categories of persons - the first are those who are the subject of investigation. They can be summoned before the committee and the second are witnesses to appear in respect of that investigation.

“Now, those who can be the subject of investigation have to be public officers holding that office that is being investigated. In other words, if you look at Sections 88 or 89, it refers to those who are charged or intend to be charged with the responsibility of an office; so it does not talk about those were charged or who was charged with a responsibility.

“For instance, I want to ask a very simple question: If you write a petition today against Nuhu Ribadu that he was corrupt in office or Farida Waziri, can the Senate invite Farida Waziri to investigate her? It is not possible. They cannot.

“That will be the subject of a criminal investigation because they are no longer holding that office. They can only be invited as witnesses because the Senate has the power to summon anybody, and whoever the person is will appear as a witness not as the subject of investigation.

“In other words, if you are inviting Larmode, you can only properly invite him as a witness because he does not even have access to the documents again. He is no longer chairman of EFCC.

“Even if you say the petition was directed at him in his private capacity, can the Senate investigate him in his private capacity? The answer is no.

“For instance, if you are a public officer and somebody comes to report to the Senate that the public officer raped his wife. Can the Senate investigate that rape?

“The incident did not happen in his official capacity. The Senate can only refer it to the police and say this is a criminal case, because it did not occur in his official capacity.

“So it is clear that this Senate no longer has the power to summon Lamorde. The invitation, the summon, has been overtaken by events; he is no longer in office. He can no longer appear as a person being investigated in this Senate. He can only appear as a witness.

“If there is any allegation against him now, it should go to the police or the EFCC for him to be investigated purely as a criminal allegation.

“We will take advice; we will look at it and take the appropriate decision but I can tell you that the Senate itself is not in a place where their decision cannot be subjected to a review.

“The section quoted states anybody can be summoned as a witness, not as a person to be investigated. It says in the course of that investigation, anybody can be summoned as a witness to give evidence. But what they did was to send a letter of investigation.

“The Senate also has no power to send letters of invitation. They have powers to issue summons to people to appear. Can the court, for example, write a letter of invitation to anybody?

“The powers of this committee are the same powers a court of law exercises. If the court of law wants someone to appear before it, it issues summons. A court of law cannot write an invitation letter. So this Senate has no power to write letters of invitation. They should correct it.

“Do not forget that it is this same Senate that for many years did not know their powers regarding the service chiefs.

“I was the one that went to court to correct all of them. I wrote to them over and over again regarding their powers and they did not listen to me, so I went to court and corrected them.

“I am prepared to go to court at any time to correct this Senate. They don’t know their powers, I insist. You should know that I have done research on the powers of the Senate.”