The Rivers State House of Assembly has threatened to invoke its constitutional powers to issue warrants of arrest against the Vice Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, the Rivers State Commissioner for Finance and the state Accountant-General over their failure to appear before an ad-hoc committee investigating funds disbursed to the institution from 2017 to date.
The development followed a summons issued earlier in the week by the Rivers State House of Assembly, directing the Vice Chancellor of PAMO University, the Accountant-General, Commissioner for Education, Commissioner for Finance and other relevant government officials and agencies to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
However, the Vice Chancellor, the Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant-General were absent when the committee commenced its proceedings.
Expressing concern over their failure to honour the summons, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee and Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol, said their non-attendance was unacceptable.
Maol subsequently directed the affected officials to appear personally before the committee on Thursday, September 24.
He warned that failure to honour the fresh summons could prompt the committee to invoke relevant provisions of the Constitution and other applicable laws to secure warrants of arrest against them.
The committee is investigating the disbursement and utilisation of funds released to PAMO University of Medical Sciences by the Rivers State Government from 2017 to date.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Peters Nwagor, however, appeared before the committee and participated in the proceedings.
The committee is expected to reconvene on September 24, when the officials who were absent are expected to appear in person and provide explanations concerning the matters under investigation.
