Babatunde Solanke
Four officials from the West African Examination Council on Tuesday were arrested by the Nigeria Police Force.
This act was taken on the orders of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies.
The following officials appeared before the panel to account for their expenditure: Amos Dangut, Head of the National Office of WAEC Nigeria, representing the Registrar; Angus Okeleze, Senior Deputy Registrar; Victor Odu, Acting Director of Finance; and Segun Jerumeh, Deputy Director of Finance.
Their arrest was sequel to a motion moved by a member of the Committee Uchenna Okonkwo after the officials failed to give satisfactory responses to enquiries posed by the panel.
During the investigative hearing, a heated argument arose between WAEC officials and lawmakers. Dangut argued that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) was not a government agency and therefore not accountable to the parliament.
Replying,the lawmakers maintained that WAEC Nigeria was established by an Act of the National Assembly and, as such, was obligated to account to the parliament, which represents the people.
“Mr. Okonkwo proposed, ‘I move that, pending the investigation into the activities of WAEC Nigeria, the guest before us be taken into custody and held at the police post while we work towards resolving the issues they are presenting to Nigerians.”
The motion was seconded by the member representing Brass/Nembe Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State, Marie Ebikake.
This did not go well with the WAEC representatives as they protested the action of the House Committee.
Despite their protest, they were led away by the Sergeant at Arms of the National Assembly and detained for about 15 minutes.
But,after a brief closed-door session, the Committee ordered their release and mandated them to go home and prepare for another appearance.
The Committee Chairman, Oforji Oboku, urged them to come along with the audited statement of accounts of the examination body from 2018 to 2024 at a date that will be communicated.
He also directed that they must present relevant documents concerning the N5bn loan, WAEC got in 2022 to buy customised calculators, among others.
The Chairman warned that WAEC cannot operate outside the supervision of the National Assembly, saying, “You are not different from any other agency. We are not here to witch-hunt you. WAEC is subject to Nigeria’s laws. We have reviewed the position and we have all the powers to oversight you. You cannot come here and say WAEC is not an agency of government.”
