10th January, 2017
So many controversies have trailed the resignation of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor E.A. Adeboye on Saturday and this has led to the sack of Jim Obazee as the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) on Monday.
Jim Obazee in November 2010, was appointed to work in FRC but got re-appointed in 2015 as the Executive Secretary of FRC, an appointment which is supposed to elapse after 4 years, by calculation, that would have been 2018.
Obazee since his appointment has been caught in the web of controversies, the last of which cost him his job.
Obazee has been accused of many things which include sexual harassment and insubordination, a cold relationship with Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, who had directed him to suspend the law, but he refused.
According to a compilation of Obazee’s controversies put together by The Cable, Obazee was in 2013 accused of sexual harassment by one Abimbola Yakubu, his personal assistant of three years, an allegation he denied.
Yakubu in a letter she wrote to the board of the FRC, alleged that Obazee had repeatedly threatened to sack her if she did not accede to his amorous gestures.
“For the period of years that I worked with him, I have always been closing as late as 10 pm and sometimes beyond. I have been very loyal, committed and dedicated to duty. I have never for one day shown any sign of insubordination. Early this year, I noticed the Executive Secretary’s attitude changed towards me,” she wrote.
“I met with him on several occasions, asking him what I have done wrong but he would not say anything rather, he would yell and scream at me saying all manner of unprintable words like: ‘when I am done with you, you will cry’; ‘when I am done with you, you will hang yourself’. So I withdrew and kept to myself. He continued in this attitude towards me, not relating with me and giving my subordinates my job to do (the things I should be doing).
“I close very late at night as a civil servant, not because we really have much work to do, but that’s when he finds it most convenient to talk to me about his love for me. He makes sure everyone has closed and we are left alone in the office to make his demands. I am grateful to God for the kind of husband I married who is very understanding.
“Besides, there is no sexual move or plea he made that I did not tell my husband, from the very beginning of the advances. So, my husband is very much aware of the goings-on but, he trusts me. Even when I told the Executive Secretary that my husband is aware of his moves he tells me it is not trust, that there is no man who will allow his wife go through such since all men are jealous. He then warned me sternly not to ever mention goings on the office with my husband.
“We have had to travel around the country together to places like Calabar, Uyo, Enugu, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Abuja and Minna. These were occasions he would have had his way had God not helped me if I had not been determined to stand firm and if my husband was not solidly behind me. All of the time when we ought to retire back to our hotel rooms he would call me to either come to his room if we are in the same hotel or he would call to tell me he was coming to my room. Other times when we stay in different hotels, like when we are in Abuja, he would call me sometimes very late at night to tell me he was on his way to my hotel.”
Yakubu added that Obazee later transferred her to a corner office in Kaduna, where she would “suffer”, and that he eventually sacked her.
Despite the allegations, Obazee was not probed. He strongly denied them, saying he sacked Yakubu because she had a history of poor performance at work.
Another controversial action of the FRC under Obazee was the sack of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, in February 2014.
Sanusi prior to his sack had made weighty allegations against the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan. He had alleged that billions of dollars accruable to the federation were being diverted by some persons in the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
And in the heat of the storm which followed his allegations, Jonathan relying on a recommendation of the FRC, which accused Sanusi of financial recklessness, sacked him.
After his sack, the FRC began to probe Sanusi, but he shunned several invitations of the council.He later sued the council for defamation of character.
Obazee in October 2015, suspended Atedo Peterside as the chairman of Stanbic IBTC.
FRC cited infractions in the 2013-14 financial statements of the bank as the reason for its decision.
It directed the bank to restate and to re-issue its 2013-14 financial statements. It also imposed a fine of N1bn on the bank.
Besides Peterside, Sola David-Borha, group managing director, Stanbic’s chief finance officer and the audit committee chairman were also suspended. But in December 2016, the FRC lifted the suspension on the management of the bank.
In the latter part of 2016, the FRC directed that not-for-profit organisations including churches and mosques, to comply with a corporate governance code stipulating a term of 20 years for heads of such entities.
It was by this provision that Enoch Adeboye, who had spent over 20 years as the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), named Joshua Obayemi to head the Nigeria church although he emphasised that he remained the worldwide overseer of the church.
In the heat of a caustic controversy, Buhari fired Obazee and approved the reconstitution of the board.
Constance Ikokwu, media aide to Enelamah in a statement said the law had also been suspended in order to review it.
-Funmilola Olukomaiya