Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke

By Peter Egwuatu & Luka Binniyat
LAGOS—THE House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and other Financial Institutions, yesterday, ordered the warring parties in the ongoing crisis rocking the Nigerian capital market which led to the sack of the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke and President of the Exchange and business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to appear before it for interrogation.

Vanguard gathered that those summoned to appear before it include: Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh, former Director General of the NSE, Okereke_Onyiuke, Dangote and NSE’s Chairman, Mr. Ballam Manu.

The invitation by the Committee is coming after last  Thursday’s appointment by SEC of Mr. Emmanuel Ikhazoboh as an administrator to replace Okereke-Onyiuke who was sacked for alleged mismanagement of funds.

SEC’s spokesperson, Mr. Lanre Oloyi, confirmed that the Commission has received invitation from the House of Representatives

He said: “The Commission has been having cordial relationship with both the Senate and House of Representatives. The National Assembly has the right to invite anybody as part of its oversight function for any clarification on issues that affect the country.

“The Commission is a responsible agency and the SEC Director General, hopefully will be there to answer any questions. We have been having harmonious relationship with both Committees on the House of Representative and Senate and we would there to attend to any inquiry.”

Ikhazoboh, had already resumed duty since his appointment. While closing the stock market yesterday, he solicited the support of stockbrokers and promised to restore investor confidence and integrity in the market.

Chairman of the  Committee, Hon. Umar Buba Jibril in Abuja said: “This committee has been  monitoring activities in the sector and is in total support of the decisions taking by SEC to sanitise the capital market. The capital market is sensitive and vital to the country‘s economy and the House will not fold its arms and watch it go worse.

“By Tuesday, we are going to meet with the ex_officials and the new administrator, and  we will be inviting the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Ndi Okereke_Onyiuke, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other stakeholders.

Collation of information

“By next week we will inform the nation on what is going on. We have been watching and observing keenly; we have been collating information about developments in the capital market keenly, and we want to assure Nigerian public, particularly investors both local and foreign, that the situation is under control.

“Certain decisions have been taking by SEC and we believe these decisions are in the best interest of the nation. And as the committee, we are doing our best to get to the root of the matter.

We want to assure Nigerians that we are going to do our duty as a House. We represent the common people of this country and we shall not shy away from conducting a proper investigation to get to the root of the matter. But we must not lose sight of the fact that things must be done properly.

“All the parties involved must be treated fairly and at the end of the day, Nigerians will have cause to smile. We are calling on investors to have confidence in the market, they should not panic they should continue buying and by the grace of God the crisis will soon be over.”