Why reps threatened to arrest Globacom boss, Mike Adenuga

An ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to issue an arrest warrant against the Globacom Chairman, Mr. Mike Adenuga.

It also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission to go after the business mogul and recover over N16.7billion from him.

The committee, which is chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Ahmed Abu, is investigating the operations of telecommunications service providers in the country.

It also summoned the chief executives of MTN and Airtel to appear at its next sitting.

Adenuga’s sin is his alleged failure to honour invitations to appear before the panel.

At its sitting on Thursday in Abuja, Abu said Adenuga was using his billionaire status to intimidate lawmakers by consistently failing to honour invitations.

But, he stated that the National Assembly would not succumb to intimidation by any institution or individual.

He spoke more, “A situation where the parliament will invite an agency or an organisation and they won’t come, then we are going nowhere.

“Some people feel they are too big; that they are above the law. I am making references to Mr. Mike Adenuga, the chairman of Glo.

“The amount of disrespect he has for the parliament is unacceptable. Yes, he is a billionaire, but that doesn’t mean anything. Anybody can be a billionaire in the right atmosphere.

“Enough is enough. These people that think they are big men, when they go abroad, they respect their laws. Even airport employees, they respect them when they go out of this country.”

More members expressed displeasure over Adenuga’s non-appearance.

One of them, a Peoples Democratic Party member from Imo State, Mr. Bede Eke, told the session that Adenuga’s billionaire status notwithstanding, he must appear before the committee.

He added,  “It is not about being a billionaire. Nobody is above the law. Punch