Arrest Warrant Issued for CBN Governor and AGF by House of Reps
In a significant development, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, the Central Bank Governor, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, the Accountant General of the Federation, and 17 others. This action comes as a response to their continuous refusal to honor invitations from the committee to address inquiries related to their operations.
Rep Fred Agbedi (PDP-Bayelsa) raised the motion during the committee’s hearing on December 5, 2023, leading to the adoption of the arrest warrant. Despite being invited four times, the CEOs failed to attend the hearings, prompting the committee’s decision.
Committee Chairman, Rep Micheal Irom (APC-Cross River), ruled that the Inspector General of Police should ensure the appearance of the CEOs before the committee on December 14 through a warrant of arrest, following due diligence by Speaker Rep Tajudeen Abbas.
The petitioner, Mr. Fidelis Uzowanem, based the petition on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report of 2021. Uzowanem emphasized that the NEITI report highlighted fraudulent activities in the oil and gas industry dating back to 2016. The petitioner claimed that the 2024 budget of 27.5 trillion could be funded from the recoverable amount identified in the NEITI report.
According to Uzowanem, the NEITI report revealed concealment of illegal transactions involving NNPC and some oil companies, where payments were made to companies that did not produce crude. The committee’s decision to issue arrest warrants underscores the gravity of the situation and the need for accountability in the identified fraudulent activities.