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.