The Senate has summoned the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, and the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali.
They are to explain the situation surrounding the alleged withdrawal of $462 million from the Federation Account without the approval of the Senate.
The summon followed a point of order raised to that effect by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Sam Anyawu on Tuesday.
Anyawu who quoted Section 80 (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution to back his claim, said it was wrong for any withdrawal to be made from the Federation Account without the approval of the National Assembly.
“Mr. President, I have it on good authority that in March, 2018, a whopping sum of $462 million was withdrawn from the federation account and paid for helicopters to an American firm called Helicopter Tecno Fights Helicopters and this was done without the approval of the Senate.
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“And I know there was no such request from the Senate.
“As a citizen, senator of this place, I want to find out how this thing was done and I suggest that we invite the CBN governor, the ministers of Finance and Defence to tell us how this money was withdrawn and paid to an American company without the approval of the Senate.”
The request of the senator for the top government officials was agreed upon as the case was referred to the Committee on Appropriation for the necessary probe.