Senate has issued a warning to several key government agencies, stating that their failure to appear before the Senate Public Accounts Committee regarding outstanding audit queries could lead to arrest warrants and potential removal from office.
Gatekeepers News reports that Senator Aliyu Wadada, the Chairman of the Committee, expressed his frustration over the ongoing non-compliance from these agencies, which include notable figures such as the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji; and representatives from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Additional agencies mentioned in the ultimatum are the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), FCT Internal Revenue Service, and Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).
Wadada highlighted that these agencies have consistently failed to respond to invitations to address the audit queries raised by the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF). For instance, the FIRS has ignored eight formal requests to appear before the committee.
“If President Bola Tinubu, despite his busy schedule, can appear before the National Assembly to present the budget, no appointee is too big to be held accountable,” he said.
He warned that any further disregard for Senate invitations would trigger immediate action, threatening that “the next invitation they ignore will result in arrest warrants, and we will call on President Tinubu to remove them from office.”
Beyond legal measures, the Senate is considering exposing financial mismanagement within these agencies by publishing their audit queries in national newspapers.
“If these officials think they can evade accountability, we will take their records to the public. Nigerians deserve to know how their resources are being managed,” Wadada stated.
