Organised Labour yesterday kicked against plans by the Federal Government to reinstate the Director General, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo.
Recall that the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had suspended Gwarzo for corruption charges.
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), in a statement on Tuesday, warned that reinstating the suspected Director General will further dent the anti-graft war of the present administration.
The ASCSN State Secretary in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Isaac Ojemhenke, said that feelers from the Presidency indicated that President Muhammadu Buhari was under intense pressure from some members of his inner cabinet to recall the former SEC Director General.
Ojemhenke said, “But what the cabal does not seem to understand is that the impression being created in the minds of millions of Nigerians with the policy of recalling chief executives and other top government officials enmeshed in financial malpractices is that the war against corruption is a ruse.”
“It is necessary to recall that Gwarzo was suspended after a properly constituted administrative panel set up by the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, found him culpable of financial impropriety,” the union emphasised.
According to ASCSN, apart from the fact that the SEC Director General approved and paid himself a humongous sum of N104 million as severance benefit while still serving as Director General of SEC, he was also involved in other financial scams such as compelling the Commission to be awarding contracts to companies he was still serving as director.
“By planning to reinstate the SEC Director General, the government is creating the impression that Gwarzo is indispensable, even when the Commission has continued to function since his absence.
“There are many qualified Nigerians that are capable of performing excellently in such exalted positions so why should the government continue to reinstate individuals with character deficit into strategic offices,” the union wondered.
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