Oteh Vs Hembe: More questions as EFCC cracks the whip …Anyim, governors want soft landing for Oteh

In a related development, Weekly Trust was informed by a member of the House who will want to be anonymous that three state governors and some elder statesmen have been mounting pressure on Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to give a soft landing for Ms Oteh over allegations she leveled against […]

In a related development, Weekly Trust was informed by a member of the House who will want to be anonymous that three state governors and some elder statesmen have been mounting pressure on Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to give a soft landing for Ms Oteh over allegations she leveled against Rep. Hembe.

 

Confirming the drilling session at the EFCC headquarters yesterday, a top source who pleaded anonymity told Weekly Trust on phone that   embattled Rep.  Hembe was at the commission’s office throughout yesterday answering serious questions from operatives of the anti graft agency.

“I can confirm  to you that   Hembe and staff of the committee’s secretariat were at the EFCC office and when somebody or people spend lengthy hours in our office you know it is not tea party, it was a real drilling, investigation session,” he said.

Weekly Trust also learnt from another source at the Commission that Ms. Oteh was also there but she is apparently not going to be drilled yesterday because as at the close of work Rep. Hembe’s session took the better part of the day.

“I don’t know if they are going to fix another day for her  own part of the investigation and if they will fix a day for her I wouldn’t know when,” the source said.

Meanwhile Oteh might have made overtures to some highly placed Nigerians to intervene on her behalf with members of the House of Representatives who have constituted another committee to continue with her probe after the Hembe committee was disbanded following corruption allegation leveled against them by Oteh.

Hembe and Oteh are entangled in corruption accusations, starting Wednesday last week when the Benue born representative accused the SEC boss of spending N850, 000 on food on a day alone and of incurring N30 million hotel bills. Oteh hit back the following day, saying the committee chairman demanded bribes of N44 million and that he also collected money for foreign trip from SEC for a journey he didn’t make.

On Tuesday, Hembe stepped down as Chairman of the House committee on Capital Market and Institutions after which the green chamber set up ad ad-hoc committee under the chairmanship of Rep. Ibrahim Tukur Elsudi (PDP, Taraba) to continue with the investigation into the reasons for the “near collapse” of the Nigerian capital market and report back within 21 days.

Also, on the same day, the House  committee on Ethics and Privileges was mandated to investigate bribery allegations and report back within 14 days.

A ranking member of the House who does not want to be mentioned told Weekly Trust that since Tuesday “Speaker Tambuwal had been put under intense pressure by three governors including Abia State (Oteh’s state of origin) governor Theodor Orji and two other northern governors in a bid to give her a soft-landing.”

Also, sources in the National Assembly said Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator Anyim Pious Anyim and some northern elders have been appealing to Tambuwal not to go ahead with the two investigations as their outcome may “likely consume Oteh”.

However, Tambuwal and his deputy Emeka Ihedioha were said to have told them that the two probes were instituted by a resolution of the House and “as such they don’t have powers to stop them”.

Members of the House on their part had vowed to pursue the probes as Oteh’s allegations “have done tremendous damage to our collective image”.

The two committees are scheduled to commence the public hearing next week and both would be aired live on television networks according to House spokesman Zakari Mohammed.

Oteh is a member of that class of administrators with pedigree and background in international finance and development, who have assumed royal status in government because of the belief that they are above the fray in the misgovernance, incompetence and corruption that has been a hallmark of the Nigerian public sector. Membership of this class who usually hail from the Harvard/MIT and other American Ivy League institutions and usually have extensive experience working for international development agencies like the World Bank, AfDB, Goldman Sachs etc, gained ascendance during the Obasanjo administration with the wave of economic reform being championed by the World Bank/IMF and embraced by African governments as a way out of years of underdevelopment.

But Oteh’s standing among this class was threatened Wednesday last week during a public hearing at the House of Representatives when committee chairman Herman Hembe accused her of allegedly spending N30m on hotel bills in eight months at the Transcorp Hilton following her appointment in January, 2010. The committee said in one day alone, she allegedly spent N850, 000 on food, while on another day, she incurred additional N85, 000 expenses in the same hotel for which SEC’s account was debited.

Two Access Bank Plc employees were also said to have been hired as advisers to Oteh. The two employees, Mr. Charles Ugheli and Mr. Titi Olubiyi, were reportedly engaged in 2010 in breach of due process and against the advice of both the legal and human resource departments of SEC. SEC is the regulatory authority of the Nigerian capital market, where Access Bank is a key player.

The two officers were said to still retain their appointments with Access Bank but were being paid allowances equivalent to that of a director in the Federal Civil Service whenever they travelled out of Abuja.

The disclosures came to the fore as the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market looked into the competence of SEC to adequately regulate the market in the light of the crises that had bedeviled the market lately. The committee said the engagement of the Access Bank employees by SEC was an infraction that could explain why the commission had been unable to stamp it authority on protecting investors.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Herman Hembe, noted that questions bearing on integrity, honesty and competence would be raised when a regulator opted to employ workers of one of the agencies it was regulating.

He stated, “Worse still, these employees are still workers of Access Bank. They are paid salaries by Access Bank, but work for SEC. This smacks of plenty fraud and the regulation by SEC is impaired by bias and incompetence.”

This revelation on the second day of the hearing was a damaging blow that few expected Oteh could survive. But in what is probably one of the swiftest transitions for a public officer, Oteh kept aside the finesse associated with someone of her background and took the members (politicians) up in what looked like a reputation damaging exercise, accusing committee chairman Hembe of asking for a N39 million bribe at one instance and another N5 million bribe at another instance. She alleged that Hembe first asked for N39 million to fund the public hearing activities of the capital market, then a week later before the commencement of the sittings, he asked for N5 million, which she also turned down. She said her refusal to give the bribes was behind the hostility she has been subjected to at the hearing which she described as a kangaroo court.

Taking her pound of flesh against allegations that she has compromised her position as a regulator she said, “Yesterday you had implied that as a regulator, that by having people on secondment from the private sector, it could undermine the capacity of the regulatory function of the commission. In asking the SEC to contribute N39 million for this public hearing, you think that you are undermining your capacity to carry out your duties?”

Having the tables turned on him this way Hembe stuttered and stammered and said, “On my father’s grave, I have never visited SEC even for oversights and I never demanded money from her. Strong issues of corruption have been made against me. Strong issues of corruption has been made against the committee. So it is our hope that you (EFCC and ICPC) will investigate me deeply and investigate the committee too.”

Worried by the public washing of dirty linens from both sides the House leadership sent the Chief Whip, Isiaka Bawa to wade into the crisis.

A receipt obtained circulating on the internet revealed how the Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arumah Oteh, allegedly spent the sum of N850,000 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. The receipt, which was dated March 24, 2010, was issued by Zuma Grill Restaurant and it contained expenses incurred by Oteh in three distinct total figures.

In the first category, the bill recorded that Oteh was served two Aquafina Large, at the rate of N1,000; one Teem Soda Water, N500; five bottles of Star, N3,000; one 7Up, N500; two Chapman Large, N1,700; three Fresh Crayfish, N13,500; one Classical Snail, N4,500; four Lobster, N18,400; three Trad. Nativ. Poten, N12,000; one Roast Pork Belly, N4,000 four Pan Salmon, N19,200; Food, N71,600; Beverage A, N3,000; and Beverage N4,100.

The second category had four crème Brulee, N10,000; one Fruit Salad, N1,800; Food N83,400; Beverage A, N3,000 and Beverage N, N4,100. In the third category she was served two Tea Earl Grey at N900; Food, N84,300; Beverage A, N3,000; and Beverage N, N4,100.Ms Arumah Oteh

SEC has refuted that its boss consumed meal worth N850, 000.