House of Rep refutes witch-hunting SEC

By PETER EGWUATU, WITH AGENCY REPORT

The House of Representatives has denied allegation of witch hunting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its refusal to appropriate funds to the commission for the year 2013.

It would be recalled that members of the House of Representatives and the Director-General have been at logger head since the probe of the commission by the lower chamber almost one year ago, during which the Director General of the Commission, Arunma Oteh, accused the probe committee of demanding bribe from the SEC. The probe eventually ended with a strong reprimand of the Director General by the Federal Government, but the lower chamber has rigidly maintained that Oteh must be sacked at all costs.

While reacting to the issue, Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Hon. Afam Ogene, debunked claims of a vendetta mission against Oteh, saying that the House had already begun investigations into the activities of SEC before the DG’s allegations against the Chairman, Hernan Hembe, and the probe could just not be halted because of the allegation.

“Which one came first?” Ogene asked. “This same House was already having a public hearing on SEC when Oteh made her allegations. That an issue arose midway during an investigation shouldn’t abort a process that was already ongoing.

“During this process, issues had been raised regarding Oteh’s competence, regarding some resources of SEC that were paid into private accounts, issues bordering on corporate governance, whereby staffers were recruited from outside the system and issues regarding indecorous working relationship with key commissioners in SEC.