After a series of failed appearances before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts to explain the yet-to-be accounted for N210 trillion in the audit reports of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited from 2017 to 2023, members of its immediate past management reached out to the committee on Wednesday.
The committee, led by Aliyu Wadada Ahmed, however, threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the group chief executive officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, if he fails to appear before it on May 13, 2026, for a rescheduled investigative session with the affected officials.
At the session on Wednesday, the immediate past Chief Finance Officer of NNPCL, Umar Ajia, appeared in person and submitted copies of the audit reports containing queries on the unaccounted N210 trillion after being placed under oath.
Although the immediate past GCEO of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and the former chief upstream investment officer, Bala Wunti, did not attend the session physically, they reached out to the committee by phone to indicate their readiness to appear.
Kyari, according to the committee chairman, called ahead of the session, while Wunti contacted Abdul Ningi, who assured him that he would make himself available at the next sitting.
Earlier at the commencement of the session, the committee chairman frowned on a letter written by the current NNPCL GCEO, Ojulari, to explain his absence.
He told the chief relations officer, Morenike Adewumi, who signed the letter dated April 29, 2026—the same day as the session—that if Ojulari fails to appear before the committee by 3:00 p.m. on May 13, a warrant of arrest would be issued against him.
“Ojulari must appear before this committee at the next session, failure of which will lead to his being brought before us by force,” he said.
Also expressing displeasure over Ojulari’s repeated absence, Adams Oshiomhole described it as disrespectful for the NNPCL GCEO to send a letter signed by a subordinate to explain his absence.
“What cannot be explained must be deemed to have been stolen. It is totally disrespectful for the NNPCL GCEO to send a letter signed by his subordinate to this committee to explain his willful absence.
“He needs to be put where he belongs because if there is no Nigeria, there can be no NNPCL, let alone its GCEO,” he said.
The committee subsequently directed Adewumi and the Financial Controller, Tajudeen Kareem, to ensure that Ojulari appears before it unfailingly on the next scheduled date.
It also instructed the two officials to provide copies of the NNPCL audit reports to Kyari and Wunti ahead of the next session.
SOURCE: LEADERSHIP NEWS PAPER
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