The Senate has asked the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to compel the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Ishaq Hussain Magaji (SAN) to appear before it within 24 hours.
The Senate gave the directive in Abuja during an interactive session with agencies of government.
Chairman, Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East) said that it has become imperative for the Inspector-General of Police to intervene following the shunning of the Committee’s invitation for the third time.
The CAC RG was expected to appear to defend the Commission’s 2024 budget. However, some financial discrepancies were spotted by the Committee in the book of accounts submitted to it. So it needed further explanations.
The four senior officials of CAC, having confirmed several letters of invitation by the Clerk of the Senate Committee on Finance, could not explain the reasons for the absence of the CAC Registrar.
An angry Musa said: “With all sense of humility, the Corporate Affairs Registrar-General has disregarded this Committee.
“Distinguished colleagues, the Corporate Affairs Commission was present when we treated MTEF/FSP and the Director of Finance was here. We saw discrepancies and we told you to go and come back.
“You have your bookkeepers, you have your records and we asked you to go and tidy up and report back. But you never did. I have cause to tell the Secretariat to send you a letter, you appear here. When you came, you said the Registrar-General just felt ill. I excused you expecting you are going to come back with the documents.
“You know what the financial regulation of this country is. I had cause to tell the Committee Secretariat to write you again and you are without the CAN Registrar. You are the custodian of finances of the Corporate Affairs Commission and there are discrepancies.
“How many entities are registered in this country? How many? How much were you reporting there and you are taking us with levity?
“I am invoking Section 89(2) mandating the Inspector General of Police to compel the appearance of the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission before the Senate Committee on Finance within 24 hours.”
Earlier, Senator Ifeanyi Uba (YPP, Anambra South) had called for punitive measures against the CAC Registrar to serve as a deterrent to others.
Also speaking, former Senate Deputy Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) advised the CAC officials not to come back without the Registrar.
However, he urged them to let the CAC face the heat and explain how they spent money in the agency.
Ningi said: “Mr Chairman, it is imperative to understand where they are coming from that this is not the first time they are appearing before the Committee.
“There was a deliberate discussion with you that there were discrepancies in revenue generation and expenditure by the Corporate Affairs Commission. And we said the Registrar-General should be here.
“Yet you are here and you probably told him that you can do the job. Even if you can do the job, this job is not for you please. Don’t take the bullet that is meant for the CAC Registrar.”