Investigation into the job racketeering saga will continue on Thursday after the House of Representatives threatened to invoke its constitutional power on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the Budget Office and the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

The House of Reps Issued this threat to IPPIS, the Budget Office and AMCON on Wednesday over failure to appear before it in an ongoing job racketeering probe.

The threat was made by Rep. Yusuf Gagdi who is the chairman of the ad hoc committee investigating job racketeering and mismanagement of IPPIS in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Gagdi while addressing the members of the red chamber said that the committee was in a dilemma why IPPIS and the budget office were not present at the meeting.

The committee subsequently summoned the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to bring along the IPPIS officer before the committee tomorrow, August 10.

Gagdi added that any further attempt to run away would be resisted while he also queried why Haruna Kolo, the prime suspect in the the Federal Character Commission (FCC) job racketeering saga did not appear before the committee on Wednesday after he was asked to present himself.

“I also don’t know why Kolo is not coming back to appear before this committee; he seems to have absconded. I will sign a letter to AMCON to produce Kolo on Thursday,” Gagdi said.

“It is better he listen to us unless he is acting a script and selling lies to us; he should come so we can interact with him. We owe everybody the duty of care.

“We need him by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, the clerk of the committee should call AMCON on the phone and tell them to produce Kolo, or do they know what Kolo is hiding.”

He further said Mr Kolo should appear tomorrow or else the committee would exercise its constitutional power, adding that he is a staff of AMCON unless he wants to lose his job and miss his freedom.

The House of Reps ad hoc committee investigating alleged job racketeering and mismanagement of IPPIS had on Tuesday lamented the refusal of about 36 federal MDAs to appear before it.

Gagdi noted that most of the agencies were not respectful of constituted authority. “Forty agencies are supposed to appear before the committee, but only five are here,” he stated.

Two victims of alleged job racketeering at the FCC, Andulamalik Ahmed and Ali Yaro, said they paid N1 million and N2 million, respectively, for job placement in the commission.

Meanwhile, over 100 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), under the aegis of Coalition of Concerned Civil Society Activists, have implored the ad-hoc committee to adhere to ethical conduct. (The Guardian)

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