The Senate has issued a stern ultimatum to several top government agencies, warning that failure to appear before the Senate Public Accounts Committee over pending audit queries will result in arrest warrants and possible removal from office.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada issued the warning while expressing frustration over the continued defiance of key government agencies, including the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; Federal Inland Revenue Service Chairman, Zacch Adedeji; Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL); Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Others named include the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), FCT Internal Revenue Service, and Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).
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Wadada revealed that some of these agencies have repeatedly ignored invitations to respond to audit queries raised by the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF).
The FIRS, he noted, had disregarded eight official 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.