Non-appearance: IGP, Emefiele risk arrest as reps threaten to invoke powers

A house of representatives committee has given Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 72 hours to appear before it to provide details on recovered loot.

The panel also summoned Babagana Monguno, national security adviser; Usman Baba, inspector-general of police, and Basir Jamoh, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to appear before it on Thursday.

The ad hoc committee set up by the house is investigating recovered loot from 2002 to 2020, and invited the government officials but they failed to appear on Monday sending representatives instead.

The lawmakers vowed to invoke their constitutional powers against those summoned if they fail to appear on Thursday.

Section 89 (1d) of the constitution empowers lawmakers to “issue a warrant to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect to the satisfaction of the House or the committee in question, and order him to pay all costs which may have been occasioned in compelling his attendance or by reason of his failure, refusal or neglect to obey the summons, and also to impose such fine as may be prescribed for any such failure, refused or neglect; and any fine so imposed shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed by a court of law”.

Ibrahim Isiaka, lawmaker from Ogun and member of the committee, lamented the failure of the government officials to appear before the panel.

He told his colleagues to ask the house to shut down the national assembly over their non-appearance.

He, however, moved a motion demanding that the invitees appear before the committee on Thursday.

Adejoro Adeogun, chairman of the committee, ruled on the motion, saying the panel will “deal with them according to the constitution” if they fail to appear.

“This committee has passed a motion now that the governor of the CBN; the inspector-general of police, national security adviser, and the director-general of NIMASA have between now and Thursday to appear before this committee, otherwise the parliament, the house of representatives will invoke its power to deal with them according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

So far, the panel has questioned Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, and Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the federation, over alleged “violation of financial regulation” relating to recovered loot.