The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has threatened to invoke constitutional powers to direct the Inspector General of Police, to issue an arrest warrant on officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) including its governor, Godwin Emefiele and other Managing Directors of Agencies, who fail to honour invitations of the House.
Gbajabiamila stated this on Thursday, in reaction to the report presented by the chairman of the ad hoc committee set up to interface with the Bankers Committee and the CBN, Alhassan Doguwa.
Doguwa told the House at plenary on Thursday, that neither the CBN nor the Governor, honoured the invitation to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
“The committee invited the CBN yesterday, and we decided to take the governor specifically yesterday, we invited the CBN governor yesterday, to come with the officials of the central bank. I want to say, with all sense of responsibility, that the committee was delayed by the absence – flagrant refusal of the CBN to make an appearance.
“The governor was not there and no other person came in place of the CBN governor. My committee sat without them. We spoke with the liaison of the CBN and he said they got the letter late. As an institution, we gave them a benefit of the doubt. We gave them 1 p.m”, he said.
Reacting, Gbajabiamila said he is willing to invoke section 89(1)(d) of the 1999 constitution, which gives the House the power to direct security agencies to order an arrest warrant against anyone.
“Therefore, I will, pursuant to the authority conferred by Section 89 (1)(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Order 19 (2)(1) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force to compel the attendance of the CBN or Managing Directors who fail, refuse or neglect to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives”, he said.
