The House resumes probe of the crash of the capital marketArticle | April 18, 2012 – 12:12am | By Iferi Etuk
Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Charles Soludo, and a number of past key capital market players, including sacked bank chiefs and the security commission bosses are to face a resumed House of Representatives probe of the near collapse of the nation’s capital market.
The adhoc committee, which took over from the Herman Hembe-led committee, forced to stand down over corruption charges, read the summons mandating Soludo’s appearance; as well as former Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ndidi Onyuike-Okereke, and the former Oceanic Bank chief, Cecilia Ibru.
Others invited to appear on Friday are Musa Alfaki, the former Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission; former Managing Director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche; and former boss of defunct Intercontinental Bank, Richard Akingbola.
The inquiry reopened Tuesday after weeks of suspension following allegations of bribery between Hembe and serving Director General of SEC, Arunma Oteh.
Hembe accused Oteh of offering to bribe him with N30 million, after an earlier accusation by the DG that the lawmakers solicited N44 million bribe from the commission.
Seeking to lead the hearing away from the controversy that sparked national outrage, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, urged for a “new beginning” and appealed Nigerians to forget the past and allow the hearings to concentrate on the capital market.
A separate House Ethics and Privileges hearing is expected to hear the corruption charges.
“We are all aware of the history of this of this hearing. We have come full cycle and we are moving all over where we started,” the speaker, represented by Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, said. “I want us as Nigerians to put whatever that happened behind us. This is a new beginning. Our main goal should be for us to dig and ask questions about what led to the crash of our capital market.”
The adhoc committee chairman, Ibrahim El-Sudi, gave a similar commitment and vowed not to “witch-hunt”. “We as a committee promise to keep open minds and do our best to ensure that this investigation marks the beginning of the turn round of our capital market,” he said.
