By Grace Kehinde
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has threatened to compel the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to issue an arrest warrant on the Governor of Central Bank, (CBN), Godwin Emefiele to appear before the House.
Gbajabiamila stated this Thursday in reaction to the report presented by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, who is the chairman of the ad hoc committee set up to interface with the Bankers Committee and the CBN.
Doguwa informed the House that the CBN and Emefiele did not honour the invitation to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
“The committee invited the CBN yesterday, and we decided to take the governor specifically yesterday, we invited the CBN governor yesterday, to come with the officials of the central bank. I want to say, with all sense of responsibility, that the committee was delayed by the absence – flagrant refusal of the CBN to make an appearance.
“The governor was not there and no other person came in place of the CBN governor. My committee sat without them. We spoke with the liaison of the CBN and he said they got the letter late. As an institution, we gave them a benefit of the doubt. We gave them 1 p.m.,” he said.
In his response, the Speaker said he is willing to trigger section 89(1)(d) of the 1999 constitution, which gives the House the power to direct security agencies to order an arrest warrant against anyone.
“Therefore, I will, pursuant to the authority conferred by Section 89 (1)(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Order 19 (2)(1) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force to compel the attendance of the CBN or Managing Directors who fail, refuse or neglect to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives,” he said.
The Speaker added that the House ought to adjourn today to prepare for the elections, however, they will stay back to resolve the currency swap crisis.
He also stated that Emefiele’s deadline is not consistent with sector 20 of the CBN Act, noting that the banks are compelled to accept the old notes even after the expiration of the deadline.
It would be recalled that the Presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, who is believed to be The Godfather of Gbajabiamila, also spoke against the policy on Thursday during a rally in Abeokuta.
Tinubu alleged that the policy is targeted at his presidential ambition.
