The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Job Racketeering, has issued amwarrant of arrest on Haruna Kolo, a former staff of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), who allegedly acted as a middleman for sale of employment slots at the Commission.
The Hon. Yusuf Gadgi led -Committee issued the warrant at its resumed hearing on Wednesday when Kolo, now a staff of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), failed to appear before the panel for the third time.
Kolo had during his first appearance on Monday told the lawmakers he was collecting between N1million and N1.5million on behalf of the FCC Chairman, Dr Muyeebat Dankaka, from individual applicants before he left the Commission in January this year.
“The FCC Chairman instructed me to liaise with one Mr Shehu who is a personal driver and PA to the Taraba State Commissioner. Shehu is the one that brought those who paid monies to my account for job, some paid N1million, others N1.5 million. All to my personal account, my Ecobank account.
“She (Dankaka) asked me to give cash to her, which I did through PoS. So there is no evidence of transfer or anything,” he said.
While issuing the warrant, Hon. Gagdi said if Kolo does not show up for the probe, he would be brought in by the security agencies, and instructed his current employer, AMCON, to produce the staff for the probe.
Meanwhile, AMCON and other agencies billed to appear before the Ad-hoc Committee failed to turn up, forcing
the panel to adjourn sitting abruptly.
The Chairman, who frowned at the attitude of the government agencies avoiding the probe, said: “We have made our position very clear and we have resolved to further communicate through newspaper communications today and tomorrow for these agencies to make sure they cause appearance before this Committee.
“And we are going to make our position very public in various dailies and television stations beginning from tomorrow giving agencies the last warning that they should appear before this committee on Monday unfailingly from Monday to Friday. All our witnesses that we have equally asked them to be here are going to appear before us on Monday and Tuesday in continuation to this hearing.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) we asked Haruna Kolo to be here and some other personalities. Are they here? They are not. I think agencies would begin to see the other side of this committee from Monday by the special grace of God.
“We are going to rewrite, we are making newspaper publications, we are going to make television announcements, so that we will see if they do not watch TV or they do not read newspapers, if they claim that letters from this committee have not reached them. We should do just that and give them the benefit of the doubt.
“We are people’s representatives. So we would not be in a hurry to take any decision. For Haruna Kolo, the position of this committee is that he would lose his freedom. We will issue a warrant of arrest in respect of Haruna Kolo and compel security agencies to present him before this committee at any given period if he is so arrested.
“So this committee would communicate officially to the various security agencies and to AMCON in addition to communication that we have sent to them yesterday for Haruna Kolo to be presented here unfailingly by either the security agencies or by AMCON themselves
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
