The Board of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) rose from a marathon meeting that lasted till
late Monday night with a firm resolution directing its embattled
Director General, Aruma Oteh, to immediately proceed on compulsory
leave. It was gathered that the meeting, which was characterised by stormy bouts of
exchanges and deliberations on a variety of issues bordering on the
management of the apex capital market regulatory agency, agreed that
Ms. Oteh’s stepping aside would make for an unfettered investigation
into several allegations against her management, particularly
allegations of misappropriation of N3billion on the controversial
Project 50 programme.
It
was gathered that Ms. Oteh was left stranded when she arrived this
morning only to find that she would not be able to get into her office
in the Central Business District, Abuja.
Angered
by the action, it was gathered that the DG has already taken up the
matter with superior authorities to challenge the Board’s decision,
which she declares as a clever ploy by members to earn themselves an
illegal tenure extension, as their term of office is officially
expected to terminate in the next 72 hours on Friday.
The
latest development is an indication that the festering crisis in the
management of the capital market regulatory authority, which played out
during the recent House of Representatives probe into the near
collapse of the country’s capital market, is far from over.