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Audit Queries: Senate Vows To Arrest IGP, FIRS, NNPCL, CBN, Others

...Threatens to write Tinubu for their sack

The Senate, on Tuesday, vowed to use bench warrants to arrest and compel heads of government agencies who would refuse to honour its invitations for interface on issues or to respond to the Auditor General’s queries.

The apex legislative which was angered by the frequent refusal of some heads of government establishments to honour invitations of its Standing Committees, also threatened to recommend such people to President Bola Tinubu, for their sack.

Briefing journalists at the National Assembly complex, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Aaliyu Wadada, named the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, as one of those refusing to honour the Committee’s invitations, who must be compelled by the Senate to appear via warrant of arrest.

He also mentioned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigrian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), among other agencies that had refused to honour many invitations sent to them by the Committee on critical national issues.

Wadada, who was visibly enraged, specifically alleged that the Chairman of FIRS, Mr Zach Adedeji, had consistently ignored eight invitations sent to him by the Committee, stressing that other agencies mentioned above did the same thing.

He expressed bitterness on how these critical revenue-generating agencies undermine the Committee summons to answer queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAGF) with regard to financial transactions.

The lawmaker expressed shock at how some billions of naira left government coffers, which the affected agencies needed to account in line with legislative provisions that empowered the Parliament to investigate.

Senator Wadada said the recalcitrant heads of agencies, would be reported to President Tinubu by the Senate and not even the Committee, that they were causing disharmony between the legislative and executive arms of government and by extension, sabotaging his renewed hope agenda.

Other agencies of government mentioned to have persistently refused to honour invitations of the Committee are the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited.

He said: “If the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinibu, will set aside his busy responsibilities to come to the National Assembly to present the budget, I wonder how any appointee will think and feel that he is above the law or he is too busy.

“Whoever invitation is extended to and he or she refuses to appear before this all-important committee, a 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 for making Nigeria a better place.

“From the inception of this committee to date, more than eight invitations have been extended to the chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service who has intentionally refused to appear before this committee and also hasn’t been responding to communications at all from this committee.

“From this moment, the line is drawn between this committee and Federal Inland Revenue Service whose Chairman, risks a warrant of arrest if he ignores the next invitation for appearance.

“For NNPCL as well, the line is drawn. The next invitation NNPCL does not honour would attract a warrant of arrest as well as call on President Tinubu to do the needful on the recalcitrant appointee.

“A similar fate awaits the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and heads of other agencies earlier mentioned.

“Instruments and instrumentality of governance available to us by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will surely be deployed against the affected heads of agencies.”

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