As hunter is hunted, Reps may stop probe of Oteh, others.

Like a hot potato, the leadership of the House of Representatives has resolved to drop its probe of the capital market.

If the leadership takes the decision, it will be in reaction to the steamy session of its committee saddled with the task on Thursday.

The session turned out to be one of the hunter becoming the prey as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh, accused the chairman of the committee of grand fraud.

Oteh, who was being accused of incompetence and profligacy after being said to have spent N30 million on hotel accommodation in eight months, also accused the Deputy Speaker of the House, Emeka Ihedioha, of orchestrating a plot against her.

She described Ihedioha as a nephew of her predecessor, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who left the office in controversial circumstances.

The Nigerian Compass on Saturday learnt that the leadership of the House went into a series of meetings, some extending till the early hours of Saturday, to deliberate on how to contain the backlash that they feared would follow the allegations openly levelled against its officers by the SEC boss.

Indications emerged yesterday that the leadership of the House was not happy about the allegations and they resolved to stop further sitting billed to continue on Tuesday.

The SEC director general alleged that the wife of the deputy speaker, who works in the Abuja office of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), connived with Okereke-Onyuike to bring her personality and the commission to disrepute.

She said: “You think that if Hon. Ihedioha, the deputy Speaker of this House, being the nephew to Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyuike and having his wife work in Abuja office of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, do you think it will be compromising his capacity to carry out his duties?”

Oteh declared further: “In asking the SEC to contribute N39 million for this public hearing, don’t you think that you are undermining your capacity to carry out your duties?

“I will like to say to the Nigerian people (and for them) to know that I do not think that I am (being) given a fair hearing. I do not think that in 2012, after the efforts that the forefathers of this country have made with respect to ensuring that we have a democracy, that we will have kangaroo courts that are worse than what Idi Amin had in Uganda. I do not think so.

“And I do not think that it augurs well for the Nigerian capital market because one of the reasons people are investing in this economy is because they believe that there is a democracy and they can come to the National Assembly and have a fair hearing.

“I do not think you have given me a fair hearing, I do not think, Hon. Chairman Hembe, that it is appropriate for you to have gathered information from the SEC and without even asking us to verify that information, to respond to that issue and that you already made the judgment.”

It reliably gathered that the leadership of the House immediately summoned an emergency meeting on how to arrest the issue in order not further tarnish the image of the House.

Sources disclosed that the speaker of the House, Hon Aminu Tambuwal was not happy with the way the chairman of the committee handled the investigation.

The SEC boss also accused the committee of stealing the commission’s documents without verifying the authenticity of those documents in the era of Freedom of Information law, saying that it had thus contravened the FOI law.

She said: “You got documents from the Commission through virtual theft and in flagrant disregard of the laws of the land, the Freedom of Information Act. You used collaborators and co-conspirators to steal and smuggle these documents out of the Commission! In the spirit of fair hearing, you did not even write to us to confirm them. So, the credibility of the house is in doubt and this committee is looking more and more like a kangaroo court.” (Compass News)