FOR how long would the stand off between the House of Representatives and Ms Arunma Oteh, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, last? It has lasted for too long that it no longer makes any sense.

Who benefits from the confusion that has seen the House of Representatives insisting that it would not pass the SEC budget until Oteh is sacked? Is the role of the House to inflict inconveniences on all Nigerians because it wants to make a point? What really is the House’s point on this issue?

Ms. Oteh, a former Vice President of the Africa Development Bank, the House said, did not have relevant capital market qualifications to head SEC. The side of the National Assembly with responsibility for screening Ms. Oteh’s credentials is the Senate. Its clearance was a constitutional requirement for Ms. Oteh to be appointed.

The Presidency is leaning on the Senate’s clearance to state that Ms. Oteh cannot be sacked from her position.

Public perception of the matter is that she could be in trouble with the House over her allegation that some members of House Committee on Capital Market demanded a bribe of N50 million from SEC.

Some members of the SEC Board accused Ms. Oteh of incurring huge bills on hotel accommodation and suspended her over allegations of financial recklessness. The House of Representatives took sides with Ms Oteh’s accusers and its public hearing condemned the SEC director-general.

The refusal of the Presidency to take sides with the House of Representatives has created the impression that Aso Rock is condoning the obstinacy and arrogance of a public officer. The setting is unhealthy in a polity that has been traumatised by impunity, dictatorship and autocracy.

Is the decision of the House not to approve any budget for SEC until Ms. Oteh leaves office acceptable in a legislature with two houses? Neither the Code of Conduct Bureau nor the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which handles cases of breach of conduct by public officers, has not impinged her for improper conduct.

SEC is the regulatory body that supervises the operations of the capital market, the financial barometer of the market economy. Activities of the capital market are critical indicators of local and foreign investors to assess the health of an economy especially, its capacity to generate returns on investment.

They cannot be left to the whims of those who think that their ego is more important than the potential damage to the economy.

It is time the House of Representatives got a legal interpretation of the matter so that the SEC could be unhampered in its duties. The legitimate place for this is the courts.