Reps panel threatens Cardoso with arrest warrant for ‘ignoring invitations’

The house of representatives committee on public accounts has threatened to issue an arrest warrant on Yemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over his failure to appear before it.

In a letter dated February 27, and addressed to Cardoso, Bamidele Salam, chairman of the committee, said the CBN governor has ignored several invitations on the probe of alleged revenue leakages through the Remita platform.

“You will also recall that the Committee has sent several correspondences to your Office on the same subject with Ref. Nos: HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/2, dated 8th December, 2023; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/31, dated 19th January, 2024; HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/1/60, dated 25th January, 2024 and HR/PAC/SCO5/10NASS/HR.373/11/2023/2/84, dated 19th February, 2024, and observed your absolute disregard for its Constitutional mandate,” the letter reads.

The committee said Cardoso’s failure to appear before it has “greatly stalled” the probe. 

The committee said sections 62 and 89(1) (a, b, c & d) & (2) of the constitution empower the panel to “summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence, produce any document in his possession and under his control”.

The committee also said section 89 (1) (d) of the constitution empowers the committee 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”.

Salam said Cardoso must appear before the committee on March 5, failing which an arrest warrant will be issued on him.

“Consequently, the Committee resolved to grant you one last opportunity to appear. You are strongly advised to take good advantage of this invitation and appear before the Committee unfailingly,” the statement reads. 

“You are also advised to come along with all relevant Officers who are familiar with the issues at stake and may assist you to provide answers to any question that could arise during the Session.”

Remita is an online payment service provider owned by SystemSpecs, a financial services company.

The platform is used by federal government agencies to remit revenue into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The house of representatives resolved to investigate alleged revenue leakages through the Remita platform in November, after the adoption of a motion jointly sponsored by Jeremiah Umaru and Jafaru Gambo, lawmakers from Nasarawa and Bauchi, respectively.