NSE: House Summons Dangote, Okereke-Onyuike, Others

ABUJA, August 06, (THEWILL) - The House of Representatives has summoned the former President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh; and former Director General of the Exchange, Professor Ndi Okereke Onyuike. They are to appear before it next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Also to appear before the House are the Interim Administrator of NSE, Mr. Emmanuel Ikhazoboh and the Council Chairman, Mr. Ballama Manu, who are to come along with other stakeholders.

This is coming on the heels of the sack of Professor Onyuike from the turbulent stock exchange by SEC and the impending investigation by SEC into the activities of the of NSE under her leadership.

Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market, Rep. Umar Buba Jibril (PDP, Kogi) who disclosed this today in an interview with newsmen at the National Assembly Abuja, said the summon was to chat way forward for the stock market.

"By Tuesday we are going to meet with the ex and new administrator and by Wednesday we will be inviting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Alhaji Aliko Danagote and other stakeholders. By next week we will inform the nation on what is going on.

"We are have been watching and observing keenly, we have been collating information about developments in the capital marker keenly and we want to assure Nigerian public, particularly investors both local and foreign, that the situation is under control. Certain decisions have been taking by SEC and we believe these decisions are in the best interest of the nation. And as the committee we are doing our best to get to the root of the matter," said Representative Jibil.

The committee chairman also called on Nigerians and other investors in the exchange not to lose confidence in the market because the House would take all necessary action and decision that would restore the exchange to its rightful place saying, "We want to assure Nigerians that we are going to do our duty as a House we represent the common people of this country and we shall not shy away from conducting a proper investigation to get to the root of the matter but we must not lose sight of the fact that things must be done properly all the parties involved must be treated fairly and at the end of the day Nigerians will have cause to smile.

"We are calling on investors to have confidence in the market, they should not panic they should continue buying and by the grace of God the crisis will soon be over."