The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) alleged yesterday that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed a doctored NDIC bill hours before leaving office.
It said the new law contains 35 sections that were hitherto not in the bill passed by the National Assembly.
The corporation fingered the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Godwin Emefiele and his cohorts in the NDIC of tampering with the passed bill en route to Buhari for his assent.
NDIC Chairman AbdulHakeem Abdullateef made the allegations while being featured on a television programme.
Abdullateef stated that the corporation has, under the new law, been stripped of its independence as it now has to seek the approval of the CBN before discharging some of its duties.
“A crime has been committed. Only President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will tell us who is to be investigated,” he said.
Under the new Act, NDIC can no longer monitor and supervise banks. It is left with only the duty of checking the books of banks after getting the CBN’s nod.
Besides, the Act removes the powers of the President to appoint the Managing Director or Executive Directors of the NDIC.
Also, officials of the corporation cannot aspire or rise to the height of being managing directors or executive directors of the corporation.
According to Abdulllateef, only the CBN, in accordance with the Act, can recommend professionals for the positions of managing director and executive directors of the NDIC.
He said:” Former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Act without reading it. No reasonable person, who does not want fire to burn him inside the grave will sign this Act. They deliberately made it 48 hours before he left, because they knew that a President that is handing over has a lot to do. They knew that he had said that ‘I cannot wait to leave,’ so they took this bulky document to him to sign.
“The NDIC is meant to be an independent agency because the government wants to ensure that the deposits paid by Nigerians into banks are never endangered by the conspiracies of either the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), to ensure that whatever misbehaviour is being displayed, won’t affect Nigerians. The NDIC Act of 2006 guarantees the independence of the NDIC.
“Also, NDIC should always visit the banks and look into their books, and ensure that the way they are operating these banks does not endanger depositors.
“The moment they knew we were appointed, they introduced a new bill to the National Assembly.
“Until this bill was passed, there was no section Seven that replaced the old section Seven. The old section Seven says Mr President shall be free to appoint anyone that he feels competent to be the chairman, and Mr President shall be free to appoint one representative of the six geopolitical zones to monitor NDIC.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance, being one of the shareholders of the NDIC shall select one director to represent the Federal Government in the board.
“Emefiele and his cohort in the NDIC decided to remove the power of Mr President to appoint competent Nigerians. The new Act was not part of what was discussed at the National Assembly. The new Act is different from what the National Assembly passed, and what was taken to the President. It is illegal.”
”The current President wants to fight corruption, and corruption will want to fight back. Therefore, every one of us in every agency must stand with the President.
“When they know that what they are doing is fraudulent, they will not present it before the National Assembly to look through. There are many men of integrity in the National Assembly who will not sell their conscience. No National Assembly member will watch you remove their power to appoint competent people in the six geopolitical zones and remove them.
“In the new Act, they fraudulently made the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance as the chairman. I have never heard it in my life. I went to the permanent secretary and asked if he knew about it, and he said ’I swear by my God, I know nothing about it.’
”The permanent secretary said, ‘When it was suggested to me, I told them that I am too busy as a permanent secretary to be superintending over NDIC. They know that I will not have time to superintend over the NDIC so that they can be doing what they want.’
“The new composition says Mr President cannot appoint a managing director or executive director, except the people recommended by the CBN governor. They put the CBN governor there because they thought they could be there forever. You cannot restrain Mr President; he must be free to appoint competent Economists and Accountants.
“They have also killed the career progression of the 1,600 staff members of the NDIC. They are now saying that any staff member can never become the executive director or managing director; that it is an agency outside the NDIC that can recommend, which is the CBN. And we say the NDIC is an independent agency?
“There is a lot of protest now in the NDIC, among the staff members. They have been demoralised and demotivated because stylishly, the current executive directors have been ‘removed’ according to them because those ones were freely appointed by the President before, but now, it has to be under the recommendation of the CBN.
“They have also, in the new Act, removed the representative of the Ministry of Finance.
“The mandate of the NDIC is to protect depositors. With this new Act, NDIC will no longer be able to protect depositors. NDIC was established as independent so that it would not be disturbed by the CBN. But now, they have introduced 35 new sections under which the NDIC will need to seek the approval of the CBN before it can discharge its duties.
“Now, even to go to banks to check their books, they said the CBN must approve. So, you have taken away the independence of the NDIC. Even to pay depositors, the new Act says the NDIC must get the CBN’s approval.
“The National Assembly is the apex law-making institution in Nigeria. I monitored the process when it was passed by the Senate, it does not contain all these I have mentioned here. The House of Representatives also concurred with the Senate. But along the line, on the way to Aso Rock Villa, new sections were introduced by people who are not members of the National Assembly.
“In law, if the President signs an Act that is different from what was passed, that Act is inchoate, which means there is a material omission of what ought to have been done, and that Act is null and void.
“Mr. President alone cannot make an Act, it must be the concurrence of the two Houses.”
“They did not introduce those sections to the National Assembly because they know the Senators are reasonable people. Why will you remove the representatives of the six geopolitical zones from monitoring you?”