FRC Secretary Who Forced Adeboye To Resign, Sacked

FRC Secretary Who Forced Adeboye To Resign, Sacked

Fresh facts emerged on Monday why President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the Executive Secretary of the Financial Regulatory Council of Nigeria, Mr. Jim Obazee, in connection with the implementation of the controversial corporate Governance Code 2016.

It gathered on Monday that Obazee was sacked for disobeying a directive of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechuckwu Enelamah, that the implementation of the regulation should be suspended.

Among others, the code stipulates 20-year tenure for heads of religious groups and civil rights organisations.

Buhari had, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Monday, approved the immediate removal and the replacement of Obazee.

According to the statement, the new Council, as approved by the President, has Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman as chairman.

The President has also approved the appointment of Mr. Daniel Asapokhai as the Executive Secretary of the council to replace Obazee

Sulaiman is a former Managing Partner/Director of Arthur Anderson and later, Accenture.

He is a chartered accountant and a product of the University of Lagos and Harvard Business School.

Asopokhai is a partner and a Financial Reporting Specialist at the PriceWaterHouseCoopers Nigeria.

He is a product of the University of Lagos and the University of Pretoria.

Shehu said Buhari had also instructed the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, to invite the 19 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government and private sector organisations specified in the FRC Act to nominate members of the board of the council.

Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God had, on Saturday, stepped down as the overseer of the church in Nigeria in accordance with the governance code of the FRC.

Adeboye, who made the announcement during the church’s annual ministers thanksgiving service, at the Redemption Camp in the Mowe area of Ogun State, said the new regulation would affect clergymen, including Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church Worldwide International, aka Winners Chapel;  Pastor W. F. Kumuyi of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry and Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission.

The PUNCH, on Monday, reported that the minister had, on October 17, 2016, written the FRC boss, directing him to suspend the operation of the controversial regulation, which the Christian Association of Nigeria alleged was targeted at weakening the church.

According to the report, Obazee refused to suspend the regulation because there was no gazette backing the suspension of the regulation.