BRIBERY ALLEGATION: Reps, SEC draw fresh battle line

Oteh and Hembe

The Herman Hembe led Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions which was accused by the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Arunmah Oteh of demanding bribe from the Commission, yesterday disqualified itself from further probe of Nigeria’s Capital Market collapse.
Chairman of Committee, Mr. Hembe who announced that he was disqualifying himself from further probe of the Capital Market however insisted on his innocence and also requested that the entire committee be withdrawn from further conducting the public hearing.
And in a swift reaction, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Aminu Tambuwal announced the constitution of an Ad-Hoc committee to carry on with the probe, afresh while also directing the Ethics and Privilege Committee under the chairmanship of the Minority Whip, Mr Samson Osagie to investigate the allegations against Hembe and report to the House within 14 days.
Hembe who raised a point of Order under personal explanation recalled that the committee “in the course of carrying out its duties, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission rather than answering questions on serious matters put to her chose to proceed on a voyage of false allegation against my person and went ahead to declare the whole House committee as a ‘Kangaroo Court’.

“I stand before you this morning to reaffirm my innocence, regarding the allegations made against me by the Director General of SEC. I want to be on record that I demanded no bribes and took no bribes; rather I fought hard and rebuffed efforts to be inappropriately influenced.
“In my innocence however, I am aware of the impact of this false allegation on public perception and as a legal practitioner, I am conversant with the principles of law that in the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial functions, it becomes inappropriate to continue to preside when allegations bordering on pecuniary interest are made against your person.
Hembe disqualifies self
“Consequently, Mr Speaker, my dear colleagues, I hereby wish to disqualify myself and request the House to withdraw the entire committee from further conducting the investigative hearing.  I remain persuaded that however that the resolution of this Honourable House to investigate the Nigerian Capital Market remains most honourable and timely and should be carried to its logical conclusion” he affirmed.
To buttress the allegations that attempts were made by the SEC to influence the committee, three internal memos from the commission indicated that the idea of giving money to the committee was an internal decision of the commission.
In one of the Memos dated March 1, 2012, signed by Hassan Mamman and addressed to the Director General of the Commission, the officer suggested that ‘in view of the commission’s role as the apex regulator of the Nigerian Capital market and in consideration of the existing cordial relationship cultivated over the years between it and the House of Representatives committee on Capital Market, we find it appropriate for the Management to assist the committee by co-sponsoring this three weeks long event” to which the DG of SEC minuted it was an ‘excellent idea’.
In another memo dated 9th March, 2012, it was suggested that management should approve the sum of N30million in support of the Committee while in yet another memo signed by the Secretary to the commission, E.K. Aigbekaen, the sum of N30million was approved by the board as ‘donation’ to the committee.
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