The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu, has issued a stern warning to top government officials who have persistently refused to honour invitations to address critical audit queries, threatening that the committee will evoke senate constitutional roles to issue a warrant of arrest.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Senator Wadada emphasised that his committee will henceforth not hesitate to invoke the Senate’s constitutional powers to issue warrants of arrest against FIRS Chairman Zacch Adedeji, NNPCL Group CEO Mele Kyari, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, and several other heads of government agencies who have ignored multiple invitations.

According to Senator Wadada, the auditor general’s report submitted to the committee has exposed massive financial irregularities in these agencies, including issues of unremitted revenues and non-accountability in handling government funds.

He revealed that the most alarming was the revelation that concerned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its handling of the controversial Ways and Means scheme, disclosing that the CBN debited the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and credited the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with over ₦30 trillion, raising serious questions about transparency and due process in the whole exercise.

While highlighting the continuous disregard for legislative oversight, Senator Wadada condemned the FIRS Chairman Zacch Adedeji for failing to appear before the committee despite eight invitations. Other agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), have also repeatedly ignored the committee’s summons.

He indicated that his committee will no longer condone any impunity, Senator Wadada said:

“If the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can set all his schedules aside to appear before the National Assembly to present the budget, no appointee has the right to think they are above the law. If these agencies refuse to honour our next invitation, we will invoke the full constitutional powers of the Senate to issue a warrant of arrest and call on President Tinubu to disengage any appointee who refuses to comply.”