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House of Reps Threatens to Arrest CBN Gov, Cardoso, Others
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has issued a warrant of arrest on the Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, for refusing to appear before it to answer questions on the oil sector.
The committee also ordered the arrest of the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, and 17 others.
Among the 17 to be arrested are the heads of National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Ethiop Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd, and Western Africa Exploration and Production.
Others are heads of Alteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd., First Exploration & Production Ltd., The Md, First E&P Oml 8385 Jv, Heirs Holdings Oil and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU).
Also listed are Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total Exploration & Producing Nig (TEPN), Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Pan Ocean Oil Nig, Ltd, Newcross E&P Ltd and Frontier Oil Ltd.
The decision was taken on Tuesday during the sitting of the committee while considering a petition filed by one Fidelis Uzowanem.
The Chairman of the Committee, Michael Etaba (APC, Cross River), said Mr Cardoso and others have refused to honour its invitations.
Subsequently, a member of the committee, Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa), moved the motion to issue the warrant of arrest.
Mr Agbedi said the concerned persons should be made to appear before the committee on 14 December.
The motion was adopted by the committee, which ordered the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to execute the warrant.
Section 89 of the 1999 constitution gives the National Assembly and its committees the power to issue arrest warrants in the course of an investigation.
Section 89 of the Constitution stated that “For the purposes of any investigation under section 88 of this Constitutional and subject to the provisions thereof, the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with section 62 of this Constitution shall have power 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 and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect to the satisfaction of the House or the committee in question, and order him to pay all costs which may have been occasioned in compelling his attendance or by reason of his failure, refusal or neglect to obey the summons, and also to impose such fine as may be prescribed for any such failure, refused or neglect; and any fine so imposed shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed by a court of law.
“(2) A summons or warrant issued under this section may be served or executed by any member of the Nigeria Police Force or by any person authorised on that behalf by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may require.
Premium Times
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
