Oteh resumes at SEC today

ABUJA— Barring last minute changes, the Director-
General of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh will resume
today.
She was, last week, recalled from an indefinite
suspension slammed on her following allegations of
financial recklessness. A firm of external auditors
was subsequently engaged to examine the
commission's books.
The auditors, however, were said to have found
nothing against her which prompted the federal
government to recall her last week.
But this did not go down well with some members
of staff as they staged a protest against her recall.
That protest was said to have been master-minded
by certain interests that were bent on frustrating
her return to SEC.
Oteh had to fight many interests both within the
commission and at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Co-
ordinating Minister for the economy, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala was said to have met with the
commission's staff last Friday where she told them
to sheathe their swords as Oteh has been found to
be innocent of allegations against her. It was also
gathered that Dr Okonjo-Iweala told the protesting
staff that it was illegal for them to form unions at
the commission.
The SEC boss, a former top official of the African
Development Bank was seen as an outsider by
some interests who also were not comfortable with
her hard decisions in the efforts to restore sanity
and investor's confidence in the nation's battered
capital market.