The Senate has decided to issue arrest warrants for the Federation’s Head of Service, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack; Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi; and Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, for failing to appear before its Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.
Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, and Sally Best Properties Limited are among the public agencies whose heads face arrest warrants.
Senator Neda Imasuen, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, complained during a plenary session, prompting this decision.
Senator Imasuen complained that many invitations to these ministries, agencies, and personnel to respond to petitions filed against them by aggrieved Nigerians or corporate groups had been routinely ignored.
Senator Imasuen, in a resolution under Senate Order 42, expressed anger with these officials’ reluctance to honour the Senate’s invitations and asked the Senate to authorise the issuing of arrest warrants.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio swiftly granted the motion, citing Section 89 of the 1999 Constitution, which authorises the Senate to take such action.
“You already have the power as provided by Section 89 of the Constitution. Please use it by issuing a warrant of arrest against any head of agency refusing to appear before the public petition committee,” Akpabio stated.
Following the Upper Chamber’s directive, Senator Imasuen revealed that new letters of invitation had been delivered to the impacted officials, warning that arrest warrants would be issued if they failed to appear.
He also stated that the committee would consider a petition this week regarding the withholding of a student’s results by bb based on an alleged vengeful report by an examination supervisor.
