August 5, 2010

 

Late yesterday evening, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria took a landmark step to arrest the developments in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the removal of all Council Members elected in defiance of the Court order directing them to cease to act as members of the Council; pending the outcome of the ongoing litigation.

 

SEC explained that this decision had become necessary in order to protect the interest of the public and the investor.

 

Beyond the action taken with regards to the council and its president, it removed the current Director-General of the Exchange, Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyuike from the office of Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the NSE.

 

SEC was silent on her role as a member of the council, but it is generally believed that the earlier provision covers all elected council members.

 

Industry watchers believe that the SEC move is steeped in legal interpretation of the judgement in favour of the shareholders of AP Plc; a subject of an appeal. Should a reversal of this decision occur at a later stage, some wonder what would happen yet remain convinced that SEC must have considered this and would be aware of more facts than is available to the public that made this decision inevitable.

 

In order not to create a lacuna in the leadership and management of the affairs of the exchange, it intends to appoint an Interim Administrator pending the selection of a new Director General.

 

The Commission therefore, will announce the interim arrangements to guide this transition before the markets open today.

 

Given the gravity of the allegations around financial mismanagement of the Exchange, the Commission has also directed the conduct of an independent investigation into the allegations.

 

The market is abuzz with some possible names for the position of an interim administrator but one name on top of the pack are Godwin Obaseki and Iheanacho.

 

By 11.00am today, we would be able to confirm the new arrangements.

 

Source:( Proshare)