The House of Representatives on Tuesday set up an eight-man panel to start the investigation into the unhealthy state of the Nigerian Capital Market, afresh. The move followed the “voluntary” withdrawal of the Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions, Mr. Herman Hembe, from presiding over the probe.
The new panel, which membership was announced by the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, is headed by a lawyer, Mr. Ibrahim El-Sudi – a Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker from Taraba State.
Appearing before the committee last week, Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Aruma Oteh had accused Hembe of demanding for a N5m bribe and a N44m ‘donation’ to the committee.
However, Hembe tendered copies of some internal memos on the subject before the House. The memo indicated that the Board of SEC, at its meeting held on March 13, approved N30m for the House committee hearing.
The board had approved the memo, following a request for N30.4m from the management of SEC through another memo endorsed by Oteh on March 1.
A breakdown of how the money would be used showed that N26.2m was for the live telecast of the hearing, while N4.2m was voted for “secretariat needs”, bringing the total to N30.4m.
The memo further indicated that the committee “welcomed this development (the proposal from SEC) and accordingly forwarded a budget estimate for the public hearing.”
Oteh, in her minutes on the memo to the Executive Commissioner (Finance and Accounts), noted, “excellent idea.”
In giving its approval on March 12, the board approved N30m, instead of the original N30.4m requested by the management.
Part of the approval reads, “After due deliberations, the board approved a maximum of N30m as donation by the Commission to financially support a public hearing on the Nigerian Capital Market by the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions.”
As Tuesday’s sitting began, Hembe had raised a point of order on “personal explanations.”
The lawmaker recalled the “unfortunate incident on Thursday 15th March” when Oteh accused him of demanding bribes from SEC.
He told the House that on the strength of the allegations against him, he considered himself no longer fit to continue to preside over the probe.
Hembe insisted that he was innocent in the face of the allegations but added, “In my innocence, however, I am aware of the impact of these false allegations on public perception; and as a legal practitioner, I am conversant with the principle of law that in the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial functions, it becomes inappropriate to continue to preside when allegations on pecuniary interest are made against your person.
“Consequently, Mr. Speaker, my dear colleagues, I hereby wish to disqualify myself and request the House to withdraw the entire committee from further conducting the investigative hearing.
“I remain persuaded, however, that the resolution of this Honourable House to investigate the Nigerian Capital Market remains most honourable and timely and should be carried to its logical conclusion.”
After Hembe’s submissions, the Chief Whip of the House, Mr. Isiaka Bawa, moved a motion urging lawmakers to accept his withdrawal from the probe and to set up a new eight-man panel to re-start the probe.
The motion, which was seconded by the Deputy House Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, also mandated the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate Oteh’s allegations and report back within two weeks.
In its resolution, the House relieved the entire committee of further roles in the investigation.
The development confirmed an exclusive story last Sunday by Sunday PUNCH that Hembe might withdraw from presiding over the investigation and face the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Aruma Oteh, had accused Hembe of demanding bribes from SEC during the sitting of the probe panel which was beamed live on television.
Oteh had come under scrutiny a day earlier from the committee for her alleged financial recklessness in spending N30m on hotel bills in eight months in breach of public service rules.
She was also accused of spending N850, 000 and N85,000 on feeding on separate days in the same hotel, among other financial impropriety she reportedly committed in SEC.
In a dramatic turn, Oteh alleged that Hembe asked for N39m and later requested another N5m a day to the commencement of the probe on Wednesday last week.
Oteh also said that SEC gave Hembe estacode and a first class ticket to travel to the Dominican Republic to attend a conference on capital market operations. She claimed that Hembe neither attended the conference nor returned the money to SEC.
Hembe told the House at the Tuesday’s sitting that he had already offered to submit himself for “scrutiny by the EFCC and the ICPC. I hereby reaffirm that position and add that I am further willing to submit myself to the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges.”
Investigations showed that Tuesday’s decision came after a series of meetings by the leadership of the House on how to respond to Oteh’s allegations.
The final meeting, which held for over one hour in Tambuwal’s office prior to the sitting, reportedly opted to adopt Hembe’s withdrawal from presiding over the probe.
Sources privy to the meeting, informed one of our correspondents that “several options” on how to deal with the matter had been canvassed since Friday.
One of the sources said, “Some members had suggested that the probe should continue with Hembe presiding, since he had already asked the EFCC and the ICPC to investigate him.
“There were those who argued that the image of the House was at stake and that the outcome of the committee’s work might not be appreciated in the face of the allegations if Hembe continued to preside.
“Another suggestion even called for the suspension of the entire probe. This view was overruled because it was thought to be giving credence to the allegations of the DG SEC without proving them.
“Hembe attended one of the meetings, where he briefed members on what transpired between the committee and SEC before offering to stand down.”
Bawa, who moved Tuesday’s motion, came with a prepared text, an indication that the House already knew the direction it was headed on the matter.
While naming the eight-man panel, Tambuwal observed that the power of investigation vested in the House under Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution was “hazard-prone.”
“Let me assure Nigerians once again that we are totally committed to the fight against corruption and shall deploy all energies available at our disposal to fight this war,” the speaker added.
Hembe had threatened to institute a legal action as part of effort to prove his innocence.
“I reserve the right and liberty to go to court, not only to obtain a judicial stamp of my innocence, but receive full compensation for the obvious damage these false and spurious allegations have caused me,” he said.
Meanwhile, there are indications on Tuesday night that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had commenced investigation into the N44m bribe allegation against Hembe and the claim that Oteh spent N30m on hotel bills in eight months.
The acting spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that the anti-graft agency had started investigating the issues.
“We have commenced investigation into the allegation but we will not go further by making more comments. It is even better now that the chairman of the House Committee has stepped aside,” he said.
Despite all, the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, said it had no plans to discontinue the live coverage of public hearings conducted by its committees.
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