2 September 2008
editorial
ADVERTISEMENTS the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE placed in various newspapers, and signed by its President, in his official, not personal capacity, in defence of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE have worsened matters for the NSE and its DG.
Nobody accused the NSE of complicity in the Africans for Obama Fund Raising. Those who criticised the event were careful to limit their criticism to the individual involved. If as the NSE claims, the NSE DG "has inalienable rights and privileges to express herself as she sees fit", then the NSE has no business coming to her defence.
Her inalienable rights, which have already been exercised, at any rate, cannot include the denial of others their rights to criticise her and even prosecute her if any law was broken. Rights and responsibilities for good citizens are inextricably linked.
Since the NSE has thrust itself into this contentious matter, it will have to address fundamental principles and ethics, which the fund raising by the DG of the NSE raises.
Every institution is the elongation of one person's personality - usually the Chief Executive Officer. When that institution represents the hopes and aspirations of millions of Nigerians, the person holding that office, even in the private sector has compromised his/her right to privacy.
It is difficult for persons occupying positions in which their decisions could affect others, materially and substantially, to avoid the fact that their positions carry with them the power of coercion. The notion that the DG of the NSE is just another citizen engaged in fund raising is grand deception.
Nigeria's history is replete with instances where those in power organised fund raisings. When Major Mustapha, as the Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, organised one in 1995, for his home town, everybody, however highly placed, who received an invitation, or an instruction to be present, attended. He raised over N800 million in one day -about N40 billion today. If the same Mustapha chooses to exercise the same rights today, he will be lucky to get 100 people and definitely not anything close to N1 billion.
An invitation to any event by the DG of the NSE is an order to all the companies quoted on the NSE. That power carries with it the discretion to use it wisely and in a manner that will not raise issues of conflict of interest. If the current DG has failed to protect herself sufficiently in this regard, it is not the duty of the NSE to rescue her.
The least expected is a private reprimand to avoid such things in future. The uproar she unleashed with fund raising by CORPORATE NIGERIA for former President Olusegun Obasanjo has not died down.
The disclaimer the Obama Campaign issued is a slap on her, and on Nigeria . Her rights cannot supersede the collective rights of Nigerians to dignity - the NSE misses this point.
Investigators into this affair should find out who paid for those advertisements. It should not be the NSE.
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