The Federal House of Representatives has threatened to order the arrest of Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Subsidy Payments, Aig Imokhuede, for failing to appear before the House Committee on Public Petitions.
Chairman of House Committee on Public Petitions, Uzor Azubuike, issued the threat on Thursday, noting that the way the duo had shunned the invitation of the committee twice and the frustration that the investigative work of the committee was suffering courtesy of their absence.
In spite of the absence of the two personalities, the public hearing proceeded with the appearance of two gladiators: Chairman of Coscharis Group, Mr. Cosmas Maduka, and Mr. Ifeanyi Uba, the managing director of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited.
Responding to allusions of Okonjo-Iweala’s absence to her mother’s kidnap, \, Azubuike said the invitation was not for the minister as a person but for the Federal Ministry of Finance to put up an appearance and supply the required information
He warned that if the ministry is not represented at the next sitting of the investigative panel, the committee would be left with no other option but to issue a warrant of arrest on the head of the ministry.
In his initial petition to the House, Ubah, whose company had been indicted as one of the beneficiaries of false subsidy claims, had accused Access Bank Nig. Ltd and Coscharis Motors Ltd of conspiring to drive him out of business.
“Our travails began when we innocently entered into a joint venture business with Coscharis motors Limited around the second half of 2011. The company entered into the importation of petroleum products using our company as the vehicle and thus provided the funds via Access bank PLC,” he said.
“The transactions had gone on smoothly until the introduction and subsequent reversal of the Federal Government deregulation policy, which had adverse effects on our business. The adverse effect created a gap in the funds applied for the transaction, especially in view of unpaid subsidy reimbursements on cargoes supplied.
“Little did we know that as the duo of Access Bank MD (Aig imokhuede) through his hatchet man Cosmos Maduka came in contact with our company structures, they began to plan ways of coveting our business. The golden opportunity came for the MD of Access bank, Aig Imokuede when he was appointed chairman of the presidential committee on subsidy verification.”
Aig-Imokhuede, responded through his legal counsel, who said his client had submitted a report to the government and had no more legal grounds to function in that capacity.
Imokhuede also said the issues for which he had been invited were already before different courts in Nigeria and abroad, hence discussing them would amount to contempt of the courts.
