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N210 trillion: Dead, alive, Kyari must appear – Senate *Orders arrest of ex-NNPCL boss
Nothing outside the immediate appearance – dead or alive – of Mele Kyari, former Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), will be enough to satisfy the Senate, which appears to be baying for blood over the alleged loss of over N210 trillion from the company during his time.
Incensed at the repeated absence of the former NNPCL boss from its investigation, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, which is carrying out the probe covering the period from 2017 to 2023, insisted on Wednesday that he must appear in person and not through any proxy to answer questions.
Relying on the audit queries forwarded to the committee by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAGF), the committee, chaired by Ibrahim Dankwambo, senator representing Gombe north, actually went for the big hammer to order his arrest as a result of the development
Victor Umeh, representing Anambra Central, who moved the motion for his arrest had submitted that the committee could no longer tolerate delays in an investigation involving one of the largest financial accountability exercises undertaken by the national assembly.
Seconded by Onyekachi Nwebonyi, Senator representing Ebonyi North, Umeh told his colleagues in his motion: “This matter has lingered for too long. Nigerians deserve answers. The committee cannot continue to wait indefinitely while critical questions concerning trillions of naira remain unanswered.”
Dankwambo, who excused Bayo Ojulari, Kyari’s successor, who was represented by Dapo Segun, the company’s chief financial officer, agreeing with the motion, said, “For Mele, I agree with you. We hereby rule that anywhere Mele Kyari is, the former group GCEO, should be arrested and brought before the committee immediately.”
An attempt by Tony Nwoye, Senator representing Anambra North, who tried to intervene saying he was aware that the former NNPCL boss was in a hospital in Germany, met a brick-wall, and even led to a shouting match between him and some of his colleagues.
Nwoye, a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), had told his colleagues: “I spoke to Mele Kyari about a week ago. He promised that he would be here. But incidentally, I learned last night that the man is hospitalised in Germany.”
But even while he was still making his pitch, Nwebonyi interrupted him shouting – point of order, point of order, which appeared to have incensed Nwoye, who riposted – you can’t shout me down.
In reply to the assertion of Nwebonyi, who would not let off, but shouting: “You are not Kyari’s lawyer!” Nwoye riposted that he was all the same duty bound to guide the committee with information at his disposal.
His words: “I am not holding brief for Mele Kyari. I am duty-bound to bring this information to the committee. The decision on whether to issue a warrant of arrest is entirely for this committee to make.”
But the highpoint came with Adams Oshiomhole, appearing unfazed by the report of Kyari’s reported ill-health, thundering that even his dead body would not escape being questioned in the investigation and be made to answer.
Hear the former Governor of Edo State and now Senator, representing Edo North: “Some people believe they are bigger than Nigeria. The law must be effective when it catches the lion, not only when it catches the rabbit. This parliament risks diminishing its authority if it fails to compel compliance with its summons.
“This committee must have the courage and the will to deploy its powers and issue a warrant of arrest — not tomorrow, but today. Bring Mele Kyari here, dead or alive. Even if he is dead, we want to see the body, and he will account.
“These are allegations involving trillions of naira at a time Nigerians are suffering, and the country is borrowing heavily. His responsibility is to account for his actions as MD. He can’t be represented in that capacity. Mele Kyari can’t be represented. He is no longer the MD. Having failed repeatedly, we must invoke our powers to order the arrest of Mele Kyari.”
Echoing the position Nwebonyi, added: “The committee has exhausted its patience. This is the ninth sitting of this committee. This committee is not a creation of the Senate. It is statutory. I thereby second the motion, using our powers, to order the arrest of Mele Kyari. It goes without saying that the former CEO of NNPCL has no regard for this committee. Therefore, waiting for him will amount to what we call, in law, a wild goose chase, and I will not be part of that.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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