Two top Nigerian stock-exchange officials were removed and a fugitive former bank executive surrendered, as efforts to clean up the financial sector accelerate.
These developments, together with an expected cabinet reshuffle by President Goodluck Jonathan, come just months before January presidential elections. Mr. Jonathan’s effort to project a cleaner government is considered a centerpiece of his election platform—though he has yet to officially declare his candidacy—and a former head of the country’s financial crimes watchdog is expected to run against him.
On Thursday, Nigeria’s Securities Exchange Commission named Emmanuel Ikazoboh, a former chief executive of accounting firm Deloitte in West and Central Africa, as interim stock-exchange head.
The appointment comes a day after a shakeout at Nigeria’s Stock Exchange, Africa’s second largest. Stock Exchange Director-General Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke was fired and the exchange’s president, Aliko Dangote, was suspended. Mr. Dangote, head of a business conglomerate, is one of Nigeria’s richest men.
In a statement, the Nigerian SEC cited “inadequate oversight … ongoing litigation, allegations of financial mismanagement, governance challenges,” and other problems at the stock exchange in explaining its actions.
The SEC said Mr. Dangote would be suspended until the conclusion of an ongoing court case involving his company. A spokesman for Mr. Dangote declined to comment.
Ms. Okereke-Onyiuke couldn’t be reached to comment.
The SEC has charged that illegal manipulation caused the market to crash in 2009. Nigeria’s stock market was one of the world’s best perfomers in 2008, and one of the worst last year.
Also on Wednesday, the former managing director of Intercontinental Bank, a Nigerian institution, Erastus Akingbola, turned himself in to Nigerian authorities after a year on the run in the U.K.
As of late Thursday, Mr. Akingbola was still being questioned by Nigeria’s top anticorruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, according to a senior EFCC official.
Mr. Akingbola was declared wanted last year as part of a crackdown by the Nigerian Central Bank on the Nigerian banking industry, when Mr. Jonathan was vice president. As part of the crackdown, the Central Bank dismissed several top executives in banks that had been declared close to insolvency, and spent $4 billion on bank bailouts.
Criminal charges were later brought against several of the executives, including Mr. Akingbola, who had fled the country. Mr. Akingbola has denied wrongdoing. Since his return to Nigeria he couldn’t be reached to comment.
The EFCC this year froze over $130 million of Mr. Akingbola’s assets, and sought his extradition. “I don’t think he had any choice but to come back,” the EFCC official said. “His assets were frozen. He was boxed in.”
Nigeria has battled corruption for decades. From 1970 to 2008, the country lost nearly $90 billion to unlawful outflows of money, according to Washington-based watchdog group Global Financial Integrity. Even so, there have been relatively few arrests of top government officials for past transgressions.
Some politicians are vowing to alter the status quo. President Jonathan has begun orchestrating a push to stamp out corruption and a top presidential adviser said Mr. Jonathan will reshuffle some cabinet members in the next week.
Though Mr. Jonathan hasn’t formally declared his candidacy, several advisers to the president have said that he will run.
The election remains wide open. Only a handful of candidates, including former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, have publicly declared their intention to run.
Former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, who earned international acclaim battling corruption, will announce his candidacy in the next week, according to a person close to the situation.
Mr. Ribadu was head of the EFCC from 2003-2007 and received plaudits for aggressively going after several top politicians on corruption charges. After being removed form his post, Mr. Ribadu fled Nigeria in 2008, saying he had already survived two assassination attempts and feared for his life. He returned earlier this year.