The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) have officially written to the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that they would not honour the invitations extended to them to appear before it on June 26.
The minister and the agencies, in separate letters addressed to PAC Chairman, Hon. Solomon Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Lagos), stated that they would not turn up because the matter was already pending before different courts of competent jurisdiction.
They stated that it would be prejudicial for them to appear before the committee.
Both the NNPC and PPMC were being accused of bank-rolling the cost of the charter of the two private jets, for which one of the deals allegedly gulped N10billion for charter and maintenance.
On her part, Alison-Madueke, is being probed because she was said to have used the chartered jets for her personal use and that of her family, rather than for official purposes for which they were made available.
The minister, it was learnt, had vowed not to appear before the committee until the cases in the courts are resolved.
So far, she has taken her grievances to three different courts, seeking, in each case, to obtain a perpetual injunction to stop the probe.
One of the courts, headed by Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed had refused to grant her request to stop the probe.
The remaining two are yet to take any action on the matter.
Speaking to journalists, Olamilekan declared that there was no going back on the probe as directed by the House.
“As we speak, we are set to commence the probe. There is no court injunction barring our committee from doing our job. So, whether they appear or not, it is not our problem. The law is very clear on this. We will do our job, write our report and submit our report to the House,” he explained. – Thisday.
They will not attend, and the heavens will not fall