Court Stops House of Rep N10bn Private Jet Probe

         


A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday deliver a judgement preventing the House of Representative from investigating the Minister of petroleum resources Mrs Diesani Alison-Madueke over allegedly spending N10Bn on Chartering Private Jet

The Minister and the NNPC had earlier file a suit before the court,praying the court to stop the summon by the House of Rep, Public Account Committee  to give explanation of such financial recklessness


The Justice of the Court nullified the invitation by the House of Rep on ground that no evidence presented before the court to show that the proposed investigation of the Minister was contain in a resolution of the House, which should have been published in the National Assembly Journal or the  official gazette of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Justice said, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke confirmed that there is no such publication in the official gazette “implication of failure to provide the published resolution is that there is no evidence before the court to show that the investigation followed the provisions of the constitution”.  

The Justice added that the House did not produce the condition necessary for such a probe as provided in section 88 and 89 of the 1999  constitution as amended

“I am, therefore, bound to set aside the letters of invitation issued to the plaintiffs, which were marked as exhibits KA-1 and KA-2”, the Judge added.

he said if the house have provided a copy of the Journal containing the resolution to probe the Minister.“I would not have hesitated to dismiss this suit and order them to submit themselves to the investigative panel.” 

He finally said the house of rep has the constitutional power to summon any person regardless of position and  status and also compel them to appear before it so long due process of law is followed,

“This should not send a wrong signal to the public that the House of Reps does not have powers to summon any public officer for the sake of accountability and transparency in the process of governance.”