Reps orders Diezani to appear June 17 over jet probe

The House of Representatives has given the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, a fresh June 17 deadline to respond to inquiries into the N10bn  she allegedly spent to charter a private jet.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, gave the new schedule of the probe at a news conference in Abuja.

Mohammed stated that following Wednesday's directive of the Speaker (Mr. Aminu Tambuwal) that the probe should resume, the House had 'updated and re-issued' the invitations sent to the affected persons and agencies.

The investigation is being conducted by the Committee on Public Accounts.

The committee is headed by a lawmaker representing Lagos State, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan.

Mohammed explained that the committee, after a meeting on Thursday morning, decided to give all the parties enough time to prepare for the hearing.

He added, 'The position of the House is that we are going ahead with the investigation.

'We have re-issued the invitations. This length of time (June 17) is to enable everybody to be prepared.

'We want to avoid excuses such as people saying that they were not given enough notices to appear before the committee.'