By Clifford NDUJIHE

GIVEN the bitter exchange of brick bats and allegations of graft between the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh, and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions, Hon Herman Hembe, on March 15, it was obvious that the matter would end in the law court.

How it started
It was on the second day of the committee’s public hearing on the crash of the Nigerian Capital Market. Hembe threw the first punch when he accused Oteh of breaching the code of conduct of public officials in some of her actions.

Among others, he had accused Oteh of expending N30 m on hotel bills in eight months following her appointment in January 2010, spent N850,000 on food in a hotel, incurred additional N85,000 expenses in the same hotel for which SEC’s account was debited, and hired two staff of Access Bank, Mr. Charles Ugheli and Mr. Titi Olubiyi to work as advisers to the commission even while they remained staff of the bank.

A furious Oteh countered with damaging allegations impinging on the morality of the panel doing a credible job. Her words: “Hembe lacks credibility. For instance, he collected estacode and other travel allowances from the Securities and Exchange Commission to travel to the Dominican Republic on a capacity enhancement conference for capital market regulators. He did not go neither did he return the money collected….

“Also, he asked the commission to contribute N39 million towards the ongoing charade of a public hearing and demanded another N5 million cash on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. He made both demands by proxy. So I doubt it if I can have fair hearing from this committee and this fact has been more than demonstrated with the way you are handling this important issue.”

Although the duo denied the allegations, the opening of the can of worms meant something must give. Hembe while disqualifying himself from heading the probe panel on the basis of the allegations, presented documents to the House of Representatives indicating that it was SEC, with Oteh’s approval, that offered N30 million to the committee, contrary to her allegation that the lawmakers demanded for  bribes.

Rep. Herman Hembe & Ms. Arummah Oteh

In a counter move, the SEC DG responded with a letter detailing requests she said was sent to the commission by the House committee. Hembe stepped down as chairman of the panel. A new team headed by Rep El-Sudi was raised to re-start the investigation, which has been unearthing more revelations.

Some allegations leveled against Oteh include: N66 million house rent, N42.5 million vehicles purchase, N30million hotel accommodation, N1 billion corporate donations, N33 million payment to consultants, N17.3 million for corporate retreats, N200 million spent on SEC’s 50th anniversary celebrations, N42 million additional payment to Transcorp Hilton Hotel, illegal recruitment of 31 senior staff among others without following SEC’s Tenders Board approval

The road to the court
With the allegations generating ripples in the polity, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stepped in. Pursuant to Section 185(d) of the Criminal Procedure Code, CPC, it approached an Abuja High Court with an application for leave to arraign Hembe over his alleged complicity in a N44 million bribe scandal.

We’ve evidence to nail Hembe, Azubogu–EFCC
Moving the application on May 10, EFCC Counsel, Mr. Onejekwu Obe, told the court that the anti-graft  had uncovered sufficient evidence capable of securing the conviction of the two lawmakers on allegations bothering on bribery, financial recklessness and misappropriation of public funds.

Granting the leave, the Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar-led court, ordered Hembe to appear in court on May 17 to enter his plea to the two-count criminal charge preferred against him. He also ordered Azubogu, to appear in court alongside Hembe.

Describing the EFCC motion as meritorious, Justice Umar said he was satisfied that the anti-graft agency successfully established a prima-facie criminal case against the accused persons. As ordered, Hembe appeared before the court on May 17 but he was not arraigned due to the absence of Azubogu. Hembe’s lawyer, Jibrin Kutepa (SAN), told the court that he had an application brought under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

Criticising the EFCC for allegedly trying the lawmaker in the media, Okutepa argued that the proof filed alongside the charge showed that Hembe traveled to Dominican Republic though he did not make it to the conference.

My hands are clean – Azubogu
Counsel to Azubuogu, Mr. Emeka Etiaba, told the court that his client traveled to Nnewi, Anambra State, following the kidnap of a member of his family. He filed a preliminary objection, challenging the leave granted the EFCC to arraign Azubogu, saying there was no proof that a crime was committed by his client.

He averred that the money given to his client for the conference was an estacode and Azubogu was never requested to refund the money, which failure would have made an allegation of crime against him legally valid.

Undone, Azubogu had on Tuesday, May 22, filed a motion on notice asking a Federal High Court in Abuja to discharge the leave granted EFCC upon which charges were brought against him. He described the charge as an abuse of due process as no complaint or investigation report was made indicting him for committing any offence.

According to Azubogu’s lawyer, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), based on all documents filed by the EFCC, there was nothing capable of sustaining the charge of converting to his own use the sum of $4,095 (N600,000) given to him by the SEC as traveling allowance to a conference in Dominican Republic in October, 2011.

Hembe, Azubogu to be arraigned May 28
Following the failure to arraign the duo last week, the matter will now come up on Monday. However, the planned arraignment is not going down well among some stakeholders. Among the groups were the Citizens for Positive Change (CPC), Ethics & Corporate Compliance Institute of Nigeria and the Transparency, Integrity and Truth Network (TITN).

Specifically, the TITN in a statement by its Co-ordinator, Abiodun Olawale, asked the EFCC to disqualify itself from the case because “it will be unfair for it to adjudicate in a matter that it has obvious interest since the Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission is a member of the EFCC board going by the provisions of Section 2 (1) (a-g) of the EFCC Act.