The lower chamber of Nigeria’s bicameral National Assembly summoned Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, over a $2.4 billion revenue probe in the alleged illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export from 2014 to 2015.
The Rep. Mark Gbillah-led ad hoc committee investigating the illegal crude oil sale said it summon Malami and Ahmed after they failed to appear before the panel.
Gbillah said “This is a formal request from the committee that the minister and others should appear before this committee because they have received a formal invitation to do so”.
According to Gbillah, the committee was looking at the issues that had to do with allegations of 48 million crude oil barrels sold in China.
He stated that “There have been allegations of the AGF being also involved in receiving funds from outside the country without these funds being remitted into the federation account in line with the provisions of the constitution.
“There are allegations that expenditure of these recoveries have also been done in complete violation of the provisions of the constitution”.
It was gathered that those who appeared before the committee included the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Oriental Energy and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Harping on the development, Meanwhile, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said the investigation was not witch-hunting, stressing that it is a constitutional responsibility within the legislative powers of the house as enshrined in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the House of Reps leader, following the dwindling revenue accruing to Nigeria from crude oil sales, it was alarming to learn, from a whistleblower, of allegations that over $2.4 billion in possible revenue for the country was lost.
Femi affirmed that the recommendation of the ad hoc committee would guide the house in making an informed decision in considering the Whistleblower Bill currently before it.
