BY Sodiq Yusuff
Mounir Gwarzo resigned as director-general of the Securities and Exchange (SEC) before a new chief executive was named on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari, TheCable understands.
He will be entitled to his full benefits, according to the disengagement letter seen by TheCable.
Kemi Adeosun, former minister of finance, suspended Gwarzo as the DG of SEC in November 2017 for allegedly approving N104 million for himself as severance package for being a former commissioner of SEC.
In a petition seen by TheCable, Gwarzo was also accused of awarding contracts to members of his family and friends, in violation of the rules guiding the commission, an allegation he denied.
He was charged to court but the allegations were struck out by a high court of the federal capital territory (FCT).
In May 2019, the national industrial court reinstated him but he did not return to office until he submitted his letter of resignation on January 9, 2020.
Legally, only the senate can remove the SEC DG.
Section 8(2) of the Investments and Securities Act, 2007 states that the President may at any time and upon the recommendation of the Minister remove a person to whom subsection (1) of this section applies: Provided no full time member of the Board of the Commission shall be removed from office without the approval of the Senate.
TheCable can report that Gwarzo’s resignation was accepted on May 18, 2020 in a letter signed by Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, permanent secretary of the ministry of finance, which oversees SEC.
Isa-Dutse wrote that Buhari had accepted the resignation “with effect from 9th January,2020”, adding that “the Securities and Exchange Commission has been directed to pay you all the benefits you are entitled to”.
On Tuesday morning, it was announced at the senate that Buhari had forwarded the name of Lamido Yuguda as Gwarzo replacement.
Yuguda is on the board of SEC and was a director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
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