AFTER his second stint as the acting chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Ibrahim Lamorde as the Executive Chairman financial crimes-fighting outfit.
Mr. Lamorde was appointed as the temporary head of the agency after the sudden termination of the appointment of the previous chair of the agency, Mrs. Farida Waziri, in November last year. The confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Lamorde followed more than an hour “screening” by the Senate.
Mr. Lamorde admitted to the lawmakers that there is corruption within the agency.
According to him, three officials of the agency are currently in detention over allegations of corruption, adding that the EFCC’s staff will now be subjected to lie detectors. “As a means of tackling this problem, the EFCC would introduce lie detectors which its staff would be subjected to” he said.
Prior to his last service in acting capacity, he also served as Acting Chairman when the first chairman of the agency, Nuhu Ribadu was drafted to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for a course in 2008 before the appointment of Farida Waziri.
Mr Lamorde, 48, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), enlisted into the Nigeria Police in 1986, after obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology (1984) from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He was posted to the Niger State Police Command and served between 1987 and 1988 in Minna. He was made the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) in Rijau, Niger State between 1988 and 1989 and for four years (1989-1993), he served as Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Niger State Command.
He was the pioneer officer of the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police, when it was created in 1993 and served there until 2002. While still an officer of the SFU, he was deployed as Chief Investigation Officer of Ermera District of East Timor of the United Nations Civilian Police where he served with honors, between 2000 and 2001.
For a short while, he was the Divisional Police Officer, Ojo, Ibadan in Oyo State and later deployed to the Force Headquarters, Abuja, from where was seconded as a pioneer officer and Director of Operations of the EFCC.