Following his refusal to appear before it on Wednesday, the Senate has asked the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd.) to resign his appointment.
The lawmakers made the call at plenary on Wednesday, after NCS CG, Col. Ali, failed to appear before them on Wednesday.
The Senate had on Thursday last week asked Ali to appear before it at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in Customs uniform to explain the rationale for directing that vehicle owners should pay duty on their cars.
Prompted by Ali’s seeming disrespect, by his refusal to appear before the Senate as directed, senators at exactly 10.32 a.m.went into a closed-door session, apparently to assess the situation and make a resolution.
The senators had on Thursday, turned back the Customs’ CG from the chamber for not appearing in uniform, and rescheduled his appearance for Wednesday, with definite position that he should appear in Customs’ CG uniform
The Senate had first invited Ali to appear before it on March 8, to brief it on the proposed policy for payment of Customs Duty by vehicles owners, no matter the age of the vehicle. However, Ali did not honour the invitation on the ground that he had a management meeting.
Not satisfied with the reason, the Senate issued a warrant mandating Ali to appear on March 22. But, on Tuesday, Ali told State House correspondents that he would not be at the Senate, citing advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation as reason for his decision.
He said that he had written to the Senate, intimating it of the development, explaining that a case had been instituted at the court on the matter.
He said the AGF wrote to him, asking him and all parties to stay action on his summon to appear at the Senate in uniform, pending the determination of an originating summons filed by one Mohammed Ibrahim.
