The Senate has threatened the Minister of Works, David
Umahi; Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack; Chairman
of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa; and others
with the issuance of a warrant of arrest against them for failing to appear
before its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions. Other chief executives who also risked the warrant of arrest
are those of Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc, Enugu Electricity Distribution
Company and Sally Best Properties Limited. The Senate’s resolution was sequel to the complaint of its
chairman of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator
Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo South), about the refusal of the chief executives to
honour invitations sent to them on petitions against them. Senator Imasuen, in a motion, moved through Order 42 of the
Senate’s Standing Rules, lamented that several invitations sent to heads of the
affected agencies to appear before his committee for explanations or defence on
petitions filed against them by aggrieved Nigerians or corporate bodies were
ignored. He then requested the Senate to mandate his committee to
issue a warrant of arrest against the recalcitrant chief executives. Responding to the request, the President of the Senate,
Godswill Akpabio, said: “You already have the power as provided for by Section
89 of the 1999 Constitution. Please use it by issuing warrant of arrest against
any head of agency refusing to appear before the public petition committee. “Appearances of the invited people before the committee are
very important for justice and fairness on issues raised against them in the
petitions before the Senate through the Public Petitions Committee.” After securing the mandate of the Senate on the issuance of
warrants of arrest against heads of the affected agencies, Senator Imasuen told
journalists that a list of the affected agencies would be released at the
appropriate time, which he did on Sunday through a statement. In the statement, he said: “Fresh letters of invitations
have been sent to heads of the affected agencies, upon which warrant of arrest
would be issued if any one of them fails to appear.” He added that aside from the warrant of arrest to be issued
against heads of the affected agencies, his committee would, this week,
expeditiously treat a petition filed by Mr Onyebuchi Obioha on withholding of
her daughter’s result by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB,
based on an alleged vindictive report written against her by the examination
supervisor.
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