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The Senate Committee on the Public Account has threatened to issue an arrest warrant against Bayo Ojulari, Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) from the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).
This follows the failure of the NNPC LTD GCEO to appear before the panel for the fourth time.
Ripples Nigeria reported that Ojulari was ordered by the panel to appear before the committee on Tuesday to respond to audit questions involving N210 trillion which were allegedly not calculated between 2017 and 2023.
However, when the committee said, Mohammed Abdullahi, officers, announced that Ojulari had sent a letter explaining his absence.
This is the fourth time that Ojulari will avoid the panel invitation.
In the letter dated July 22, 2025, Ojulari said he could not respect the invitation because of an emergency call from the President of Bola Tinubu around 1 pm.
Dapo Segun, NNPCL Chief Financial Officer (CFO), represented the company at the trial and conveyed the message to members of parliament.
The response triggered anger among the committee members, who insisted that Ojulari had to appear before them on Wednesday at 3 pm without fail.
Aliyu Wadada, Chair of the Committee and Senator representing Nasarawa West, said that three previous invitations had been ignored before the fourth was issued the second Thursday from behind.
Also read: NNPC calls for continental partnerships to build African fuel purification centers
Victor Umeh, a senator representing Anambra Central, said that while the president’s call was a serious problem, it should not be used to damage the authority of the national assembly.
“Using President Tinubu as a reason to fail to appear before the committee must not be continued,” Umeh said.
Joel Onowakpo, a senator who represented Delta South, said that the NNPCL boss seemed to treat the committee by insult.
“For me, the NNPCL boss thinks that he is bigger than this committee, and we do not need to be a fortune teller to tell us that he will never respect our invitation unless we ask our strength to force him,” Onowakpo said.
Aminu Abbas, a senator representing Adamawa Central, described Ojulari’s behavior as disrespectful.
“There is no greater GCEO than the National Assembly. Because it failed to respect four separate invitations, he must be ordered to appear tomorrow (Wednesday) without failing,” Abbas said.
The committee chairman decided that Ojulari had to appear before the panel at 3 pm on Wednesday or risk arrest.
“This committee will not tolerate further reasons. Ojulari must appear, or we will issue an arrest warrant for him,” said the Deputy Chief.
The panel investigates the contradiction in the account that NNPC audited, especially the N103 trillion in the cost to be paid and the N107 trillion receivables.
By: Babajide Okeowo
