House Seeks Udoma’s Resignation from SEC
By Goddy Egene in Abuja THISDAY | Feb.24.2010

The House of Represen-tatives Committee on Capital Market has petitioned the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, urging him to order Senator Udoma Udo Udoma to resign as Chairman of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Udoma, who has been the Chairman of SEC since 2008 was recently appointed the Chairman of UAC of Nigeria Plc. But some stakeholders in the capital market have kicked against his occupation of both positions at the same time, saying it is in conflict with the provisions of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) of 2007.

But when contacted on telephone yesterday, Udoma said he had made his position on the matter known since last week.
Faulting calls for his resignation Udoma said : “When I was initially informed that I was being considered for appointment as the part time Chairman of the SEC I asked for time to consult and think about it before accepting. One of the things I needed time to examine was whether the appointment would be consistent with my other commitments. Having carefully examined the provisions of the ISA it was clear to me that the appointment was not inconsistent with my existing board appointments.

“What Section 11 of the Act required me to do was to declare them and not participate in any decision involving any of them. My investigation also revealed that this was an established practice. Indeed, my immediate predecessor as chairman of SEC and I served on the same board while he was the chairman of SEC. Had it been otherwise I would have declined the offer to be the chairman of SEC.”

While constitutional lawyer Fred Agbaje, has threatened a court action against Udoma over the issue, the Senate Committee on Capital Market recently petitioned Babalola requesting the minister to order Udoma to choose between UACN and SEC.
Last Monday, the Chairman of House Committee on Capital Market, Mr. Aliyu Wadada, also joined the fray of those calling for Udoma’s resignation from SEC.

He made this call through a letter dated February 18, 2010 and titled: “The Imperative Necessity of Senator Udo Udoma's Resignation from his Chairmanship of the SEC.”
A copy of the letter, which was obtained by THISDAY was also copied the Director-General of SEC, Ms. Aruma Oteh; DG of Nigerian Stock Exchange, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, and Udoma himself.

Wadada said: "While the issue of Senator Udo Udoma and his chairmanship of SEC as well as his position in other public quoted companies still lingers on, I wish to hereby convey the stand of this Honourable Committee. It is instructive to note that this Committee's position on the issue strongly concurs with that of the Senate Committee on Capital Market - conveyed to you through the Senate Committee's letter of February 4, 2010.

“As a matter of fact, this Committee after looking at the matter very critically and with a great sense of duty to rise and act to save the Nigerian capital market in general and safeguard investors' interest in particular, strongly believes that, after all that has been said and done, the resignation of Senator Udo Udoma from the Board of SEC as chairman, is based on expediency; in the overall good interest of the nation. While we await your expedited understanding on this Committee's position as stated above, please accept the assurances of the Committee's esteemed regards.”

It was gathered that the Finance Ministry received the letter on February 22, but there was no official confirmation on likely action to be taken based on the petition.
However, Babalola was last week quoted to have acknowledged receipt of the first petition written by Senate Committee and promised to look into the matter.

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