N98.4bn Probe: Court Stops Reps Panel from Summoning Insurance CEOs

BY BONNY AMDI

A federal high court in Abuja has temporarily restrained the House of Representatives commit- tee on capital market and institutions from summoning the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and 17 insurance companies over its investigation into alleged N98.4 billion liabilities.

In a ruling on Monday, Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, granted the interim order, holding that the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the insurance companies “stand the risk of being arrested” while the substantive case is pending.

In July, the house sub-committee on capital market, chaired by Kwamoti Laori, commenced an investigation into about 25 insurance companies over alleged financial infractions.

Laori said the probe followed a petition accusing the insurers of causing significant revenue losses to the federal government.

The committee invited the companies to either confirm or refute the allegations. In response, the NIA and 17 insurers filed a motion exparte before the court seeking to halt the probe.

Nwite initially declined the application, directing the insurers to put the respondents on notice.

The plaintiffs later filed a motion on notice, listing the speaker of the house, the committee, Laori, and Bob Solomon as defendants.

Taiwo Osipitan, counsel to the insurers, argued that the NIA represents the 17 companies, all of which are non-government-funded and regulated by agencies in the executive arm — the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)— not the house of representatives.

Osipitan said his clients were aggrieved by a July 3, 2025, summons directing them to submit operational documents to establish alleged indebtedness to the federal government.

He argued that the court had jurisdiction to intervene, noting that “the balance of convenience” favoured protecting the companies from unconstitutional legislative oversight.

In an affidavit, Akioya Victoria, NIA manager, stated that the “objective of these letters of invitation/ summons… is to recover N98.4 billion from the 2nd to 18th Plaintiffs/Applicants, being… liabilities to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The insurers asked the court to restrain the law- makers from enforcing the summons or compelling their CEOs to appear before the committee until the substantive case is heard.

Decision

Nwite noted that none of the respondents filed a reply to the motion on notice and ruled that failure to respond after being served deprived them of grounds to claim a breach of fair hearing.

He added that the NIA and its members sought to protect themselves from “unconstitutional invitations/ summons” by lawmakers they insist lack supervisory powers over them.

“In view of the foregoing, I am of the view, and I so hold, that the plaintiffs/ applicants (insurers) have a right deserving of protection through the grant of an injunction,” the judge ruled.

He further ruled that there were serious triable issues, including whether lawmakers have the constitutional authority to summon the insurers’ CEOs or demand financial documents to verify alleged debts.

On the balance of convenience, Nwite found that the insurers and their executives “stand the risk of being sanctioned/arrested by the Defendants,” which could disrupt their business operations. By contrast, lawmakers would lose nothing if restrained pending the court’s determination.

He also noted that the plaintiffs had undertaken to pay damages if it turned out the injunction should not have been granted.