Abeokuta — Accountant-General of Ogun State, Babatunde Salau, may have avoided the hangman's noose after all.

He swallowed his pride when he appeared in the House of Assembly on Thursday, having been threatened with arrest should he fail to honour the fourth summon.

It was drama however when he said he did not know the financial status of the state.

Salau had been summoned to clear some discrepancies from the stable of the Auditor General, Bamidele Samsideen, regarding the finances last week when the latter appeared before the House.

"Figures are not something you get on your fingertips. You only asked me to come and clear the discrepancies in the Auditor General's submission; you did not ask me to come here with debt profile.

"I don't have the figures you are asking for," Salau had told the session, adding that he was only invited by the lawmakers once, and "not thrice as being claimed by the House."

Speaker Tunji Egbetokun, saved the day when he ordered that the Commissioner for Finance, Kehinde Sogunle, Samsideen and Salawu, to appear before the House next Thursday to clear the controversy surrounding the indebtedness of the state.

The Deputy Speaker, Remmy Hazzan, had called the attention of the Acountant General to Sections 120, 128 and 160 of the constitution that compelled the officer to supply the financial statement of the state to the House.

Hazzan had noted that Salawu had deliberated withheld information from the House, which he said, by the provision of the constitution, could compel the lawmakers to invoke relevant sections of the constitution against him.

Adijat Oladapo-Adeleye (Ifo state constituency 1), Femi Adiro, Dr. Tokunbo Oshin (Ijebu North) and Biodun Akofonyon (Ipokia state constituency) tried to force information from the Accountant General, he maintained that he did not such information with him.

At a point, Oshin engaged the Accountant General thus:

Oshin: What we are doing here is a serious matter. We are asking you questions about the debt of the state. The people of this state deserve to know the liability and asset of the state. You have come to mislead the House by deliberately withholding information from us. What we want you to do is to tell us the debt profile of this house.

Salawu: Figures are not something you play around with. The Debt profile of a state is not something you have on the finger tips.

Oshin: I want to put it to you that this House confirmed your appointment. Is that clear?

Salawu: I want to correct what Hon. Oshin said. I was not confirmed by this House. It was the Auditor General. I was asked to come and clarify, not to come with debt profile.

Akofonyon reminded the Accountant General that he (Salawu) signed the letter of the state bond to the Security and Exchange Commission, where he put the debt profile of the state at N22billion.