Senate Committee on Public Accounts has threatened to invoke its constitutional powers against the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) if he fails to appear before the committee again by tomorrow.
The Committee, led by its Chairman, Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, had during its previous sitting expressed concern over the repeated failure of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Bayo Ojulari, to honour its invitations, including his absence on Tuesday.
In an interview with newsmen shortly after the brief sitting, Senator Ahmad Aliyu Wadada stated that the committee would no longer accept any excuses from anyone except the GMD, as he has consistently failed to honour the committee’s invitations, not even once.
Senator Wadada explained that the committee is seeking clarification from the NNPCL’s GMD regarding a financial infraction amounting to ₦210 trillion, as highlighted in the audit reports covering 2017 to 2023, which remains unaccounted for by the company.
Meanwhile, Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed, insisted that the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL , Engineer Bayo Ojulari must appear before it for explanations on the financial infractions and other queries raised against the Nigeria owned oil company .
He added that the committee is only trying to verify the authenticity of the claims in the audit report regarding the alleged sum of money, noting that the financial infractions may not have occurred in recent years, but that government is a continuous process.
The committee also rejected the letter signed and presented by the Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr. Dapo Segun, describing it as a disregard for the integrity and authority of the committee.
The Chairman of the committee therefore emphasised that the committee would issue a warrant of arrest to the chief Executive officer of the Company if he refused to honour the committee’s invitation by tomorrow wednesday the 23 of July 2025
Senator Wadada also clarified that the committee does not have anything against anybody in NNPCL but doing its constitutionally mandated duty of making Nigeria work through thorough scrutinization of how public funds are spent.
Cov/Bashir M