The speaker of the house of representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday threatened to issue a warrant to the inspector general, Mr. Usman Baba to effect the arrest of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and forceful appearance before the House.
Recall that the house had set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the scarcity of the new naira at the commercial banks, leading to tension over the January 31 deadline set by the CBN for swapping the old N200, N500 and N1, 000 notes for the redesigned ones.
Chairman of the committee, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, at the plenary on Thursday (yesterday), informed the house about the non-appearance of the CBN chiefs before it on Wednesday.
He noted that the committee had rescheduled the meeting for 1 pm on Thursday (yesterday).
“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 1pm,” he said.
Responding, Gbajabiamila said he was 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.
However, Gbajabiamila informed the House that the CBN had written to the clerk informing the house of Emefiele’s inability to appear before the committee on Thursday.
He also stated that instead of the house adjourning plenary till February 28 for the elections as planned, the lawmakers would reconvene on Tuesday to take an action against Emefiele and other bank chiefs who fail to show up.
