Chukwuma Chinwo, legal counsel to PAMO University, has alleged that he and his colleagues were asked to leave when they appeared before the Rivers State House of Assembly ad-hoc committee investigating funds disbursed to the institution.
The committee is probing the management of funds allocated to PAMO University since 2017 and had summoned the university’s Vice-Chancellor, the Rivers State Accountant-General, the Commissioner for Education, the Commissioner for Finance and other relevant officials and agencies to appear before it.
However, the Vice-Chancellor, the Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant-General were absent from Wednesday’s proceedings.
The Chairman of the ad-hoc committee and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol, expressed disappointment over their non-attendance.
Maol directed the officials to appear in person before the committee on Thursday, September 24, warning that the committee would rely on relevant constitutional provisions to invoke a warrant of arrest if they failed to honour the invitation.
Meanwhile, Chinwo, in a statement on Wednesday, alleged that the committee prevented him and his colleagues from representing PAMO University during the proceedings.
He said the university’s legal team had previously written to the Assembly, arguing that it lacked the authority to summon the institution to a public hearing.
According to him, attempts to deliver the letter to the Assembly had been unsuccessful, prompting the lawyers to appear in person.
Chinwo said, “We have written letters to them saying that they have no right to summon the university to the public hearing. And this letter, have been coming to the gates and they will not allow them. They will not receive it and all that. So that’s why we came to represent before the committee.
“And they just, once they knew that we are external solicitors and they asked us out. So I don’t know what they are hiding. If you are inviting a body to a committee, even National Assembly, they can send representatives,” he said.
The legal counsel further alleged that the committee’s actions could be aimed at intimidating the university’s Vice-Chancellor and producing inaccurate reports.
He added, “We are surprised that they are acting the way they are doing. Do you know why they reacted the way they reacted? It’s because of not wanting the truth. Maybe the aim is to intimidate the vice-chancellor at the university and then give false reports. So they don’t want it. So it’s really unfortunate,” Chinwo added.
