N10b Jet probe: Reps orders Diezani to appear June 17
Adetokunbo Fakeye with agency report
House of Representatives Thursday gave the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, a fresh June 17 deadline to respond to inquiries into the N10bn she allegedly spent to charter a private jet, Challenger 850, for her trips.
House said, that its public hearing suspended on the matter would resume on June 18.
The minister and other individuals and agencies invited in respect of the investigation have up to June 17 to file memoranda, while physical appearances will begin on June 18.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, gave the new schedule of the probe at a news conference in Abuja.
Mohammed stated that following Wednesday’s directive of the Speaker (Mr. Aminu Tambuwal) that the probe should resume, the House had “updated and re-issued” the invitations sent to the affected persons and agencies.
The investigation is being conducted by Committee on Public Accounts headed by House member, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, representing Alimosho Lagos Federal constituency.
The House Media committee chairman explained that the committee, after a meeting on Thursday morning, decided to give all the parties enough time to prepare for the hearing.
“The position of the House is that we are going ahead with the investigation.
“We have re-issued the invitations. This length of time (June 17) is to enable everybody to be prepared.
“We want to avoid excuses such as people saying that they were not given enough notices to appear before the committee.”
He added that the House expected that the report of the investigation should be ready before the start of its annual break in late July.
