In July 2011, Huhuonline.com broke the news that the Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh has a high proclivity and penchant for combining high public office with her cravings for leisure and conspicuous consumption.

 The issue in question then, was the revelation that she spent a whooping thirty million naira on her hotel bills alone.

Following the avalanche of allegations of bribery and corruption trailing the House of Reps probe of capital market operations, it is now emerging that the scandal was more than it met the eye and that the endemic corruption in the SEC stinks to the high heavens! Watching the drama between Oteh and the House Committee Chair, Herman Hembe unfold on live television, one cannot help but wonder whether the volley of accusations and counter-accusations should be happening in any country worthy of respect. It’s a shame.

The scandal has overshadowed on-going attempts by House Reps to probe the Capital Market meltdown after the Lower Chamber all but sacked the Committee, opting instead to set up an ad-hoc panel to begin the investigations from scratch. Already, the Committee Chair Hembe denied the bribery allegation leveled against his panel by Oteh, and personally withdrew from the investigation. Huhuonline.com welcomes the recusal of chairman Hembe from the probe as a matter of principle. Common sense demanded nothing less.

Huhuonline.com had reported exclusively in July last year that in the eight months between January and August 2010, the SEC paid N30, 510,100 on hotel accommodation and other related expenses for Arunma Oteh alone. The bulk of the amount was spent on her N120, 000 per night suite which took a whooping N26, 280,000; room service charges of 10% amounted to N2, 628,000. Other expenses included: feeding (N272, 300); value added tax (N1, 308,000); valet parking (N6, 800); laundry (N9, 400) and minibar (N5, 600). Huhuonline.com was told by sources at the hotel that Oteh suffers from incurable money-mindedness and is a spend thrift who is incapable of controlling her cravings. We had then requested that she be sacked from the SEC, but like a bad headache, Madame Director General has refused to go!

Ever since the scandal broke on live television, Oteh and the SEC have been making public statements that expose her professional immaturity and lack of leadership. Her emotional tantrums in front of the Committee raised fundamental questions about her ability to serve as an unbiased regulatory umpire in a sector in dire need of fresh ideas and strong and purposeful leadership. We therefore make bold to demand the immediate resignation of the SEC boss Arunma Oteh to pave way for an independent inquiry into this sordid affair.

It is amazing how a clear case of moral profligacy leveled against Oteh and the SEC could be twisted in such a way that, in one moment of sheer stupidity, Nigerians are being coerced to believe that the color white has suddenly turned black. If this is not magic, what else could be more befuddling? The moral questions hovering over the head of Oteh has been reduced to a game of magical numbers. Suddenly, a certain Obi Adindu, SEC Communications Adviser has emerged with fatuous arguments suggesting that the correct amount of money spent on Oteh’s dinner was never N850,000 but N85,000. No big deal.

Reducing the bill to N85,000 does not make the amount of money less stupendous; it also does not make the scandal less serious. The debate over the exact amount of money spent in the “official dinner hosted by the SEC with a group of   international capital market experts who were visiting Nigeria to provide technical assistance to SEC Nigeria” is a cleverly contrived distraction. The key question remains: does the revised amount expended on food and drinks for Oteh and her friends make the expenditure right? Does the magical new figure make Oteh ethically immaculate? Does the indignity associated with such reckless squander mania make Oteh and the SEC morally sensitive or insensitive? It is only in Nigeria that someone like Oteh, paid by the taxpayer would scorn public criticisms of official misconduct, defy public requests for accountability and explanations by the people’s elected representatives and still retain their high profile positions.

For emphasis, the point now is not about the precision of the amount of money spent on food and drinks or rents and the acquisition of cars. There are so many points involved in this scandal. The first point is about the excessive amount spent on dinner for Oteh and her friends since the so-called visiting experts were not in Nigeria on an official invitation by the SEC or the government. The second point is about whether it is morally right for so much money to be spent with no real economic value to a nation, when a majority of people are battling to survive. The third point is about whether due process was observed in the process to offer the dinner. The fourth point is about whether the money was envisaged in the SEC budget. If it wasn’t, where did it come from?

The fifth point is about the timing sequence of Oteh’s claim that Chairman Hembe was railroading her because the SEC turned down a request for N30 million bribe from the Committee. Documents and SEC memos indicate that the only official correspondence from the House to the SEC appointing Note Worth as the Committee’s consultants in the hearing was dated March 14, a day after the Committee had taken Oteh to task for her failure of leadership. It therefore stands to reason that Chairman Hembe could not have asked Oteh for bribe after the feisty exchange the day before.

The sixth point is about whether it is ethical for Oteh to replace all her cars because according to the SEC spin doctor Obi Adindu, “the two pool cars were purchased to replace two old cars that were subject to frequent breakdowns.” What Obi Adindu is implying here is that Oteh’s predecessor was riding cars that were “subject to frequent breakdowns.” This is utterly ridiculous.

Furthermore, the assertion by Adindu that the Access Bank employees hired by Oteh to the SEC on secondment does not compromise her regulatory functions because the said employees had “no connection with the core regulatory functions of the Commission” is laughable and should attract no further comment. This act of sheer stupidity raises fundamental questions about Oteh’s judgment as it amounted to insider-trading and conflict of interest.

On the issue of her rents, Huhuonline.com has it on record that Oteh reportedly turned down an offer made by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Lamido Sanusi to use the sumptuous CBN guest house in Abuja, at no cost, preferring the hotel, where she live for almost a year. Therefore, the claim that “Ms. Oteh however voluntarily left the hotel before an official residence could be provided, unhappy with the lack of privacy at a hotel accommodation and for security reasons” is indeed disingenuous.

If Madam Director General is certain about her innocence, if she is concerned about the impact of this salacious affair on the integrity of the SEC (not to forget her own patchy morality), she should step aside in order to facilitate an independent inquiry. An independent inquiry is guaranteed to produce one of two outcomes: a moral acquittal that should help to cleanse Oteh of the stench that began to gush out of the SEC since the scandal broke; or an indictment that would shred forever her name, her honor and her status in society. If she refuses to step aside, she can expect to preside over a disorderly and discredited SEC for the rest of her tenure.

The contention by Oteh’s defenders that she should not step aside because she has not been found guilty is not in sync with established practices in democratic countries. The normal practice, for example, is that public office holders and political leaders who are accused of grave misconduct (as in this Oteh’s case) must step aside so that the process of investigation is not impeded. For clarity, stepping aside is not a guilty verdict on an accused person nor does it imply innocence on the part of an accused.

No one should be mystified by the latest attempts by Oteh’s defenders to confuse the key issues in this scandal by trying to convince the nation that allegations of improper conduct against Oteh are false, mischievous and unprovable. Anybody who wants to defend Oteh’s discreditable behavior should tell the nation whether, on a scale of importance, offering dinner to her foreign friends for N85,000; living in a luxury hotel for over a year and acquiring new cars rank amongst the nation’s priorities.

Although we live in an impoverished society, although many people are scouring refuse dumps looking for trash to feed on, the ravenous appetite of people like Oteh has so inured them to the realities of our circumstance that they have lost all sense of equity in their conduct. It is possible that Oteh is wondering why all the noise about the money spent on her hotel bills and personal leisure. Oteh might also be asking whether the public expects her to live in any kind of dilapidated house in spite of her high office and tremendous sacrifices to the nation. She needs to be comfortable in order to serve her fatherland. Fair enough!

We must concede to Oteh the right to defend herself against allegations of financial and ethical impropriety, which is a fundamental human right. However, the kitchen-sink strategy of snow-balling the Committee, in an attempt to douse the smoldering inferno that threatens to consume her career is ill-advised and counter-productive. Oteh has no option but to explain why she sanctioned providing logistical support to a probe that was aimed at her agency. She does not have the luxury of delaying a decision on when she should take the high road and resign over the scandal that continues to taint her image and that of the SEC.

Huhuonline.com Editorial

Source: Huhuonline.com