Obazee Not Sacked Because Of Adeboye - Presidency Reveals Why FRCN Boss Was Actually Fired

More revelations have emerged over the sudden removal of Jim Obazee as the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN.

According to Presidency sources, Obazee was not fired by President Muhammadu Buhari because of the resignation of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye but for ‘procedural breaches.’

Vanguard quoted sources as saying that Obazee was sacked based on advice of the Attorney General of the Federation.

The source said the decision to sack Obazee was taken before Adeboye appointed a new leader for the ministry.

The source said: “The sack of Obazee had nothing to do with the decision of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye to resign, retire, step aside or whatever. It was just a co-incidence.

“Even if Adeboye had not stepped aside, the man (Obazee) was gone. It had absolutely nothing to do with the pastor. The key issue is that there is a procedure for doing things all over the world but he completely ignored it.”

The source further explained that the code in question had not gone through the entire process before Obazee announced that it was law and must be complied with.

He added that the code was not a law but best practice guidelines and that organisations were meant to comply or explain why they won’t comply.

He explained: “The corporate governance code, which is a regulatory guideline for corporate organisation meant to guide both public and private (profit and non-profit) organisations, is a code that the FRCN is working on.

“There is a process of passing that code. The committee working on it was inaugurated by the last administration. But the process of passing that code meant that by the time that committee finishes working on it, there were supposed to be public hearings and all that. By the time the committee finishes its work, that code was supposed to get to the governing board (of FRCN) for approval.

“But as you know, all the boards were dissolved. So the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment was, in effect, the board (for the parastatals that he was supervising). When it goes through the board, it would be submitted to the Federal Executive Council to give approval for it to be issued. Code not a law but regulatory guideline

“Some people have interpreted it wrongly. It is not a law. It is a regulatory guideline and the basic problem was that the FRCN unilaterally decided to come out. And in essence this is something that was going to affect corporate organisations, the way businesses were being run in a very significant way.

“This administration is saying we want to make the way businesses are done in Nigeria easier. We don’t need further bottlenecks. We need to make it easier. And the corporate world was saying, ‘look, this governance code hasn’t got down with us. We needed to understand it, we needed to make inputs into it.’

“So, when the FRCN unilaterally took a decision on it, the minister said suspend it and explain and note the concerns from the various corporate organisations, because it was supposed to have come to the minister but the Executive Secretary of FRCN went ahead on his own and issued the code.

“There are all kinds of letters from various corporate organisations. The ministry was inundated with all kinds of letters everywhere. The issue of the churches and other non-profit organisations were just minor. It wasn’t something we were even thinking about. Because even in that code, what the Corporate Governance Code says about the churches was ‘comply or explain.’ It wasn’t a law. I don’t know how the churches understood it but there was no law that says you must retire. It says comply or explain. In effect, it was best practice advisory. That was what it was.

“But when the executive secretary literally broke all procedural laws of issuing it, the minister queried him and said this is not the way things are supposed to be but he disregarded it and literally came out again in the public to say that the code had been issued and it is law.

“So, the president with the advice of the AGF, because the AGF gave the advice that that was not the right thing to do. The President decided to suspend the code and terminate his appointment, reconstitute the FRC as it is. That was exactly what happened.”

Adeboye's Redeemed Scandal: The Sacked FRCN Scribe, Pastor Obazee Incur Fresh Buhari's Wrath Over Multi-Million Naira Fraud

Jim Obazee 

The Nation - The last may not have been heard about the sack of Mr. Jim Obazee as Executive Secretary of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).

Obazee is confirmed to be a zonal Pastor at RCCG.

Few days after he was removed as the scribe of the body, the Federal Government is considering probing his tenure.

Some other top officials of the council may also be asked to make way  as government  prepares for the overhaul of the parastatal.

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The planned reorganisation is a consequence of allegations of wrongdoings  in the establishment.

One of the allegations is that over N1 billion cash of the council, meant for International Financial Reporting Standards Academy (IFRS) is  trapped in a bank, contrary to the decision of the board to invest it in treasury bills.

Investigation revealed that FRCN had been under probe radar since 2014 but the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did not act.

Some of the other allegations against the council border on curious budget and expenses as follows:

Expenditure of  N225 million on the  production of FRC registration certificates which cannot be exhausted in 24 years’ time

Acquisition of  a  N47 million mansion in Houston, Texas (suspected as 15918 Mission Village DR Houston Texas 77083) by a top official  of FRCN.

Expenditure of N36 million within  60 days in 2014 on local travel to Abuja to probe the books of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under ex-Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Suspicious payment of incidental expenses.

In a particular  curious expense in July 2014, a top official allegedly applied for N736, 250 to go to Abuja for an official assignment.

His memo said: “Please arrange to reimburse me for my trip to Abuja to meet and brief the Permanent Secretary on the activities of the FRC.

“I travelled on Monday, July 14, 2014 and returned to Lagos on Tuesday, July 15, 2014.

“Details are as follows: Return ticket (Lagos-Abuja-Lagos) N150,000; Hotel Expenses (N86, 250); Incidental Expenses (N500,000), amount due to me, (N736,250).”

In a similar claim,  the official on August 18, 2014 asked for a reimbursement of  N836, 250 for a trip to Abuja.

The official  had applied for the reimbursement of the cash through a memo addressed to Assistant Director (FIND).

The memo, which was obtained by our correspondent  said: “Please arrange to reimburse me for my trip to Abuja for a meeting to attend the meeting of Heads of Parastatals with the Honourable  Minister at Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on Thursday, August 14, 2014.

“I travelled on Thursday, August 14, 2014 and returned back to Lagos on Friday, August 15, 2014.

“Details are as follows:  (i) Return ticket( Lagos-Abuja-Lagos)—N150,000; (ii) Hotel expenses (N86,250);  and (iii) Incidental expenses (N600,000).

“Amount due to me is N836, 250.”

A top government official said: “There were a lot of issues during the tenure of Obazee which the government will look into.

“There were allegations of mismanagement of funds and  huge incidental expenses incurred by some top officials of the council.

“For instance, it was alleged that about N36 million was spent on local travel to investigate the books of the Central Bank of Nigeria during Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s tenure.

“We have a report on how a top official of FRCN allegedly bought a N47 million mansion in Houston, Texas.

“The council made suspicious payments to  hired consultants, who  were suspected to be proxies for some of its officials.

“Some contracts awarded were questionable. Also, some outrageous allowances were paid outside the approved rates in the civil service. So, we may probe the administration of FCRN anytime from now.

“The probe of Obazee and others will be part of plans to overhaul the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria. The agency stinks  a lot.

“These allegations are not new but the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did not act on them.

“Actually, a member of the Audit Committee of the former board of FRCN had raised some of these issues, especially on poor management of resources.

“There are allegations that  council did not publish its annual reports for some years contrary to Section 38 of the FRCN Act. This is not in line with international best practices.

“We will ask the new board to restructure the FRCN in a manner that it will disallow a sit-tight syndrome. Until he was removed, Obazee had served as FRCN chief for more than 10 years as Technical Director through CEO in NASB and to the Executive Secretary level.”

The FRCN’s stipulation of a maximum period of 20 years for the heads of all registered churches, mosques, and civil society organizations and its Governance Code 2016 have caused tension in the last few days.

The FRC’s regulations, which had not received final approval, led to  the exit at the weekend of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye.

Worried by the religious tension, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday sacked Obazee and reconstituted the board of FRC.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, announced the President’s decision.

The statement said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate removal and replacement of the Executive Secretary and the reconstitution of the board of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.

“He has appointed a Chairman and a new Executive Secretary for the council. The new Council as approved by the President has Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, MFR, as Chairman.

“Mr. Sulaiman was 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.

“The President has also approved the appointment of Mr. Daniel Asapokhai as the Executive Secretary of the Council. Mr. Asopokhai is a partner and a Financial Reporting Specialist at the Price water House Coopers, Nigeria.”