Diezani ‘won’t honour house invitation’ over jets
The minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, will not honour the invitation sent to her by the public accounts committee of the house representatives.
The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, has written to the committee to decline the invitation to the hearing slated for June 26.
The house committee is probing expenditure on private jet charters, estimated at N10 billion, by NNPC and its subsidiary, Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).
The minister is being accused, among other things, of using the jets for personal trips, even though they were officially chartered and paid for with tax payers’ money.
Yakubu said they would not appear before the committee because there are cases in court over the probe and any action would be “prejudicial”.
He also said the corporation would not provide any documents to the committee regarding the probe.
In May, media reports had said an Abuja court had stopped the house from probing the affair but these were dismissed by the judge.
Later, Alison-Madueke said she needed the approval of the president to honour the summons.
The house of representatives has, however, maintained that it will go ahead with the probe without her appearance.
If the woman has nothing to hide,she should be bold enough to face the probe pannel.