OBAZEE AS BUHARI’S OWN GOAL

Jim Obazee

This will be my last word on the raging controversy surrounding the sacking of Jim Obazee as Executive Secretary of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN). For all we know, President Buhari may have scored a deadly own goal.

Obazee was removed Monday January 10 for what is generally suspected to be the Council’s implementation of the National Code of Corporate Governance for Not-for-Profit Organizations, which led to the resignation of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Enoch Adeboye, as head of the church in Nigeria.

Aside sacking Obaze, Mr. President also directed the suspension of the National Code of Corporate Governance. The code had set a 20 year term limit for heads of Not-for-Profit Organizations (religious bodies inclusive). It also requires them to hold an Annual General Meeting as well as make public their financial dealings.

These requirements had sparked off criticisms and widespread opposition from not just Not-for-Profit-Organizations but also corporate bodies, thus causing the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah to direct that the Council soft-pedal on its implementation. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment supervises the FRCN. Obazee’s insistence on implementing the code is thus seen as disobedience of the Minister’s directive.  

In answer to a query earlier issued him by the Honourable Minister, Obazee said that he relied on Section 50 of the FRCN Act, 2011, which among other things empowers the Directorate of Corporate Governance to develop the principles and practices of Corporate Governance applicable in Nigeria; set and promote compliance with standards for accounting, financial reporting and auditing in Nigeria, as well as regulate the practices of professionals involved in financial reporting and promote good practices in financial reporting and corporate governance in Nigeria

His reply was said to have infuriated the Minister and the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Both bided their time. That time came when Adeboye resigned citing the requirement of   the corporate governance code. Interestingly, Obazee, Enelamah and Osinbajo are pastors in Adeboye’s RCCG. Is there an RCCG connection somewhere? We may never know.

President Buhari may have scored a deadly political own goal

What we know is that, yes, Obazee may have been insubordinate insofar as he went ahead to enforce a policy that his boss had asked him to soft-pedal on. Yes he may not have gotten the approval of his minister before implementing the code regardless of the fact that he didn't really need the Minister's approval to do so. But if one may ask, is a directive to “soft-pedal” the same as suspension? The answer is capital no. As far as I am concerned, the suspension order came from the President after he had sacked Obazee, not before.  The ministerial directive to “soft-pedal” simply means to “slow down”, to exercise discretion. It does not mean stop the implementation of the corporate governance code.

But this may be semantics, and it does not mean that Obazee is without blame. Nevertheless the fact remains that the Minister’s directive to soft-pedal on implementation cannot in itself be said to be in tandem with the overall disposition of the government towards accountability, more so when it is in conflict with extant law.

My point really is that Obazee’s sack amounts to an over kill. No doubt some sort of punishment was necessary for not doing “eye-service” to his Minister, or reading his body language. But definitely not a sack. A reprimand would have sufficed, especially given the objective and intention of the Corporate Governance Code.  

As far as we know the FRCN was brought about by an Act of the National Assembly. Neither the Act nor the resultant National Code for Corporate Governance has been repealed or amended. Obazee acted pursuant to the provisions of the Act and within the powers of his office as Executive Secretary.  He neither acted ultra vires nor exceeded his limits.

So if the Minister was not comfortable with Obazee exercising the powers of his office, the proper thing to should have been to cause to be proposed an Executive Bill seeking to repeal or amend the FRCN Act and hence amend the controversial code instead of giving a nebulous “soft-pedal” directive that probably left Obazee and FRCN in quandary, hampered or in doubt as to the direction of government. A mere directive cannot and should not override an Act from where Obazee derived his authority.

Also, out of the 23,216 registered churches in Nigeria, 89 had complied with the FRCN provisions and Heavens did not fall. These 89 may just be the honest ones. How were they able to comply and the others could not? Exactly what kept the others from complying beyond the appeal to emotions that they are not-for-profit organizations? Does being not-for-profit absolve an organization from public or regulatory scrutiny? Does it place such an organization above the law of the land? We have seen and heard cases where leaders of such organizations use the cover of their organization to launder money. It is not too long ago that the General Overseer of a well-known church in Nigeria attempted to play Nigeria’s Oliver North by giving out his private jet for illicit arms deal.

Also, the way some owners of religious bodies display opulence raises profoundly disturbing questions. Some of them also blatantly disregard government regulations. Example is the Synagogue Church of All Nations whose building collapsed and killed 115 people in 2014 due to non-compliance with government building regulation. Obazee himself had publicly given ample warning several times about the consequences of non-compliance with the Corporate Governance Code, yet these so-called Not-for-Profit organizations did not comply. Should we then assume that organizations are in order not to comply with the law of the land even if they do not like it?

The fact that a law is challenged in court does not render it a nullity. Besides, a court of competent jurisdiction had struck out the case instituted against the FRCN over the stipulations of the National Code for Corporate Governance, for lack of merit. In any case, if religious bodies are not comfortable with the corporate governance code, are they not obliged to comply with the requirement of the Corporate Affairs Commission which is what the code is in reality emphasizing?

Finally and most important, given the Buhari Administration’s tough stance on corruption and emphasis on accountability and transparency, sacking Obazee for insisting on an accountability policy is, to all intents and purposes, inappropriate and, if I may say, contradictory. It also sends a wrong signal that perhaps the government is not serious about it. This is besides also making the government look like it acted to appease Adeboye and his church, the RCCG which the Vice President and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment are leading members.

Mr. President should have weighed all options before giving Obazee the boot. Obazee’s sack may come back to haunt him at some point in future. Whoever advised him in this regard has done him a great disservice. Obazee’s sack is, for me, a triumph of a selfish political interest.