Jonathan Nwokpor
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The Senate has threatened to issue an arrest warrant for individuals who have not appeared before its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, including Minister of Works David Umahi, Head of Service of the Federation Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and others.
The main executives of Sally Best Properties Limited, Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc, and Enugu Electricity Distribution Company also took a chance on the arrest warrant.
The Senate’s resolution came about as a result of Senator Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo South), the head of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public complaints, complaining to the Senate about the chief executives’ reluctance to accept invitations regarding complaints filed against them.
In a motion introduced under Senate Standing Rules Order 42, Senator Imasuen lamented the fact that the heads of the impacted agencies had been invited multiple times to appear before his committee to provide explanations or to defend themselves against petitions brought by resentful Nigerians or corporate entities. However, his invitations had gone unanswered.
Then he asked the Senate to order his committee to issue an arrest warrant for the chief executives who were refusing to cooperate.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, responded to the request by saying: “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.”
Senator Imasuen assured journalists that a list of the impacted agencies will be made available at the proper moment after winning the Senate’s authorisation to issue arrest warrants for the leaders of the affected agencies. On Sunday, he fulfilled this promise by releasing 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.”
In addition, he said, his committee would expeditiously handle a petition filed by Mr. Onyebuchi Obioha regarding the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) withholding of her daughter’s results due to an alleged malicious report written against her by the examination supervisor. This was in addition to the warrant of arrest that would be issued against the heads of the affected agencies.
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