Reps committee order detention of WAEC officials for failing to give satisfactory answers during hearing

The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies on Tuesday, ordered the arrest and detention of four representatives of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for failing to respond satisfactorily to questions thrown at them during a hearing.
The affected WAEC officials, Amos Josiah Dangut, Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, who represented the Registrar; Angus Okeleze, Senior Deputy Registrar; Victor Odu, Acting Director of Finance; Segun Jerumeh, Deputy Director of Finance, were reportedly taken away by members of the Serjeant at Arms for about 15 minutes before being allowed back to the venue of the hearing.
The decision, according to the reports, were ordered detained upon a motion moved by a member of the Committee, Uchenna Okonkwo, during the investigative hearing of the Committee after they failed to answer questions to the satisfaction of the members.
The lawmakers had, during the hearing, engaged in heated arguments with the WAEC officials on whether the examination body was accountable to the National Assembly or not.
During his presentation, Dangut had told the Committee that WAEC was not an agency of government and therefore, not accountable as other agencies.
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But the lawmakers insisted that WAEC was a creation of an Act of the National Assembly and must account for all their activities to them, pointing out that the National Assembly makes appropriation for WAEC.
The lawmakers also pointed out that WAEC’s convention dictates that they must submit to the legislation of any of its member countries.
Following the arguments, Okonkwo moved a motion demanding that the officials be put in custody.
“I will like to move a motion that while pending the investigation to look into the activities of WAEC Nigeria, the invited guests should be taken into custody and held at the police post while we seek for solutions for these issues they are bringing upon Nigerians.”
But after a brief closed door session, the Committee resolved to allow them go and come back at a later date with relevant documents demanded of them, with a stern warning that they must bring the audited statement of accounts of the examinations body from 2018 till date.

VIDEO: Reps panel in heated debate with WAEC officials over alleged fraud pic.twitter.com/5BFjfNL1LQ
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