The Senate Public Accounts Committee has ordered the arrest of former Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari after he failed to appear before the panel for the ninth time, as lawmakers probing 19 audit queries covering NNPCL’s financial operations from 2017 to 2023 expressed their exhaustion with what they described as a pattern of deliberate evasion of institutional accountability.
Committee Chairman Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo ruled that a warrant be issued and transmitted through appropriate legislative channels for execution after lawmakers rejected a suggestion that Kyari’s reported medical treatment in Germany justified his continued absence without documentation. Senator Victor Umeh moved the motion for the arrest, and after a voice vote, Dankwambo declared that wherever Kyari was located, he should be apprehended and brought before the committee.
The hearing also produced a sharp confrontation between former Edo State Governor and Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole and former NNPCL Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya Isa, who appeared to defend the company’s financial records against the sweeping claim that it could not account for N210 trillion during the period under review.
Ajiya mounted a direct challenge to that figure, saying it was mathematically impossible given that the company’s total revenue from 2017 to 2023 stood at approximately N54.5 trillion, making the alleged shortfall nearly four times the entire revenue the company generated over those years. He said the publication of audited accounts demonstrated management’s confidence that the financial records were sound and called for forensic investigation to establish facts rather than proceeding on the basis of unsubstantiated figures that he warned could damage Nigeria’s international reputation and sovereign credit standing.
Oshiomhole challenged that line of defence, arguing that published audited accounts did not resolve the questions raised by auditors in management letters and that accountability required engagement with the substance of the audit observations rather than their dismissal. Tension peaked when Ajiya made a remark about employment demand at NNPCL that Oshiomhole interpreted as deflection, triggering a sharp exchange before Ajiya apologized and the committee restored order.
The committee directed Ajiya and former Chief Upstream Investment Officer Bala Wunti to return in two weeks with additional documents and clarifications.
