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ABUJA—A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, aborted moves by the House of Representatives to commence hearing on the allegation that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, spent about N10 billion on chartered private jets. Diezani-Alison-Madueke, In a ruling yesterday, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed,
ordered the legislative house to shelve its plans to begin probe into the allegation on June 25.
The judge further directed all the parties to maintain status quo till July 3, a date the High Court slated to hear the substantive suit that is challenging the powers of the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of the House of Representatives to investigate such allegation.
The court order was sequel to an oral application made by counsel to the minister, Mr. Etigwe Uwa (SAN), who, yesterday, informed the court that despite the pendency of the suit, the House, on May 23, wrote a letter to the Petroleum Minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, asking them to ensure that they appeared before its probe committee on June 25, 26 and 27.
Uwa told the court that the House had in the said letter threatened that it would not hesitate to invoke its powers and issue a warrant of arrest against the minister should she fail to appear before the committee on the aforementioned dates.
He said: “My Lord, the 2nd defendant in particular (House of Reps), in their letter to my clients, said they noted with dismay that we approached this court in a bid to stop them
from performing their constitutional duties. They also boasted that no arm of the government has the power to stop them.”
ordered the legislative house to shelve its plans to begin probe into the allegation on June 25.
The judge further directed all the parties to maintain status quo till July 3, a date the High Court slated to hear the substantive suit that is challenging the powers of the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of the House of Representatives to investigate such allegation.
The court order was sequel to an oral application made by counsel to the minister, Mr. Etigwe Uwa (SAN), who, yesterday, informed the court that despite the pendency of the suit, the House, on May 23, wrote a letter to the Petroleum Minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, asking them to ensure that they appeared before its probe committee on June 25, 26 and 27.
Uwa told the court that the House had in the said letter threatened that it would not hesitate to invoke its powers and issue a warrant of arrest against the minister should she fail to appear before the committee on the aforementioned dates.
He said: “My Lord, the 2nd defendant in particular (House of Reps), in their letter to my clients, said they noted with dismay that we approached this court in a bid to stop them
from performing their constitutional duties. They also boasted that no arm of the government has the power to stop them.”
Read more here Vanguard.com
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