By Nafisat Makinde
The External Auditors to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) recently found themselves at odds with the Senate Committee on Public Accounts. The Senate committee had invited the external auditors to appear before it to address queries raised in audit reports of the affected agencies before 2023.
In response, the external auditors, through a letter from their solicitor, Afe Babalola & Co, informed the committee that issues relating to the audit reports are already the subject of litigation and would be subjudice for them to appear before the committee. This reasoning, however, did not sit well with the Committee.
Dissatisfied with the reason given by the external auditors, the Committee issued a counter letter dated 15th May 2025, ordering the external auditors to appear before it on Tuesday, 20th May 2025, unfailingly. The committee argued that the scope of its work goes beyond the case before the court and that it is not a party to any case that is between the External Auditors or the Court.
The committee further stated that the external auditors have a duty of full disclosure of the claim in court, by furnishing the Committee of the Court process, so as to determine the involvement of the National Assembly or the Senate to the case on the subject of Sub-judice. Despite this directive, none of the external auditors appeared before the committee on Tuesday, but were represented by one of their solicitors, Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi (SAN), who was not allowed to make any submission.
Atoyebi later spoke to journalists, explaining that the external auditors couldn’t appear before the committee to avoid subjudice. “The committee had earlier been informed that the external auditors would not appear before it because issues to be deliberated upon are already in court and would amount to subjudice on their part to make any submissions on them,” he said. He added, “It is even subjudice for the committee itself to be holding session on issues being litigated against in the court of law.”
