By Miracle Ogunde
The Senate has threatened to issue warrants of arrest against top government officials for failing to appear before the committee to defend queries against them in several audit reports by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF).
The Senate’s Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) made the threat on Tuesday.
Those concerned include Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, Central Bank Governor (CBN) Yemi Cardoso, and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Mele Kyari.
Others are Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji and Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Mr. Adewale Adeniyi.
The SPAC Chairman, Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, noted that the FIRS CEO has shunned eight invitations extended to him by the committee, while NNPCL has never appeared before the committee.
The committee also accused the apex bank of avoiding its invitations to defend issues related to Ways and Means.
The committee chair described the failure of these officials to honour Senate invitations as an affront to the National Assembly and an insult to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Nobody in Nigeria is above the law. We are all supposed to operate under the laws guiding our various engagements as citizens of Nigeria. If the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinibu, will set aside his enormous commitments as President to come to the National Assembly as a mark of respect to the Assembly, to present budget, I wonder how any appointee will think and feel that he is above the law or he is too busy to appear before the members of the people’s parliament,” he said.
“This is unacceptable and from today, after this press briefing, whoever invitation is extended to and he or she refuses to appear before this all-important committee, warrant of arrest will be issued and we will call on the President to disengage that person because the person does not share in the dreams of Mr. President to and for making Nigeria a better place.
“Permit me to say that from inception of this committee to date, more than eight invitations have been extended to the chairman of FIRS, who has intentionally refused to appear before this committee and also hasn’t been responding to communications at all from this committee.
“If he truly shares the dream of the Renewed Hope Agenda, I wonder why he will not come here for us to exchange what we have going forward to make Nigeria a better place.
“He should also be reminded that we, on this side of the divide, are sitting on mandate, not appointment. We are not appointed. We were elected by Nigerians.
“So, if he does not have respect for the mandate given to us by Nigerians, he should have respect for the mandate given to his boss that appointed him.
“With this, the line is drawn between this committee and the FIRS. The next appointment, I mean, invitation that is given or communication sent to him and he does not respond, warrant of arrest will be issued and we will call on the President to say that your appointee in Federal Inland Revenue Service does not share your dream and he is not helping your situation.
With regards to the Kyari-led NNPCL management and the NCS, Wadada said: “For NNPCL, because the issues are multifaceted, we don’t want to take time here to outline the issues that have got to do with Federal Inland Revenue Service or NNPCL. NNPCL as well has never appeared before this committee.
“The few communications NNPCL responded to the committee, the information are neither here nor there. For NNPCL as well, the line is drawn. The next invitation NNPCL does not appear, warrant of arrest will be issued and we will also call on the President to do the needful.
“The NCS, on the side of the Auditor-General’s report, there are billions to be accounted for. All efforts to get the NCS to the table, to know how did this happen, what is the way forward, we are still where we were from day before yesterday to now, no change.”
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