The senate committee on public accounts has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), following his fourth consecutive failure to appear before the panel.
Ojulari was expected to appear before the committee on Tuesday to respond to audit queries involving N210 trillion allegedly unaccounted for between 2017 and 2023.
However, when the committee convened, Mohammed Abdullahi, the clerk, announced that Ojulari had sent a letter explaining his absence.
In the letter dated July 22, 2025, Ojulari said he was unable to honour the invitation due to an emergency summons from President Bola Tinubu at about 1 pm.
Dapo Segun, NNPCL’s chief financial officer (CFO), represented the company at the hearing and conveyed the message to the lawmakers.
The response sparked outrage among committee members, who insisted that Ojulari must appear before them on Wednesday at 3 pm without fail.
Aliyu Wadada, chairman of the committee and senator representing Nasarawa west, said three previous invitations had been ignored before the fourth was issued the penultimate Thursday.
Victor Umeh, senator representing Anambra central, said while a presidential summons is a serious matter, it should not be used to undermine the authority of the national assembly.
“Using President Tinubu as an excuse for failing to appear before the committee should not be allowed to continue,” Umeh said.
Joel Onowakpo, senator representing Delta south, said the NNPCL boss appeared to be treating the committee with contempt.
“To me, the NNPCL boss thinks that he is bigger than this committee, and we don’t need a soothsayer to tell us that he will never honour our invitation unless we invoke our powers to compel him,” Onowakpo said.
Aminu Abbas, senator representing Adamawa central, described Ojulari’s conduct as disrespectful.
“No GCEO is bigger than the national assembly. For failing to honour four separate invitations, he should be ordered to appear tomorrow (Wednesday) without fail,” Abbas said.
The committee chairman ruled that Ojulari must appear before the panel by 3 pm on Wednesday or risk arrest.
“This committee will not tolerate further excuses. Ojulari must appear, or we will issue a warrant of arrest against him,” Wadada said.
The panel is probing contradictions in NNPC’s audited accounts—specifically N103 trillion in accrued expenses and N107 trillion in receivables.
