A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday injuctively authorized the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to jettison any directive by the National Assembly that the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, should be apprehended for her alleged involution in the N10bn jet scandal probe.
Some officials of the ministry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation are withal bulwarked by the court order.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole made the order while ruling on an application by Alison-Madueke’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who had sought the order in view of the threat by the House of Representatives to authoritatively mandate the apprehend of the minister and other officials.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja had additionally on June 19, made an order restraining the House of Representatives from going ahead with the probe.
The order of the court is to subsist till July 3 when the court will aurally perceive a separate suit filed by Alison-Madueke along with her ministry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order ahead of the orchestration by the House Committee on Public Accounts to carry out the probe on June 25, 26 and 27, 2014.
In the second suit seeking an order ceasing the House of Representatives from going ahead with the suit, Ozekhome told Justice Kolawole on Wednesday that the lawmakers had threatened to apprehend Alison-Madueke and others.
Counsel for the National Assembly and the House of Representatives were not in court on Wednesday.
Ozekhome verbalized the lawmakers threatened to invoke the provision of section 88 of the Constitution to injuctively authorize the apprehend of the minister and others invited, should they decline to accolade the invitation to appear afore the House of Reps on June 25, 26 and 27.
Justice Kolawole relucted to grant any interim order sought by Ozekhome to stop the House of Representatives from going ahead with the probe.
He verbalized such order was nor indispensable since the lawmakers had been accommodated with the processes and as such were vigilant of the subsistence of the case.
