Jim Obazee, the recently appointed Special Investigator by President Bola Tinubu, was the Financial Reporting Council’s Executive Secretary for more than six years.
Jim Obazee never displayed any reluctance to get involved in disputes during his tenure as the FRC leader, which spanned from November 2010 to January 2017, when he was removed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. He was the subject of several contentious headlines.
Before being dismissed by Buhari in January 2017, Obazee became embroiled in controversy over the implementation of the corporate governance code.
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The current CBN investigator had been reappointed by Buhari in 2015 for a second term of four years that was set to expire in 2018, but he was fired in January 2017 following the passage of the contentious corporate governance law.
Towards the end of 2016, the FRC ordered not-for-profit organisations, including churches and mosques, to comply with the corporate governance code stipulating a term of 20 years for heads of such entities.
The law forced the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who had spent over 20 years as the head of the church, to name a National Overseer for the RCCG, Joshua Obayemi, at the time.
Adeboye, however, remained the global overseer of the church during this period.
However, two days after Adeboye stepped down, and in the heat of the controversy, Buhari sacked Obazee and approved the reconstitution of the board.
Following this development, the aide to the Minister Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Constance Ikokwu, announced in a statement that the corporate governance code had also been suspended for review.
“The Corporate Governance Code issued by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria has been suspended pending a detailed review, extensive consultation with stakeholders and reconstitution of the board of the FRC,” the ministry had stated in the statement.
The FRC under Obazee recommended the sacking of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2014, which was also controversial at the time.
Before he was sacked, Sanusi had alleged that billions of dollars accruable to the federation were being diverted by some persons in the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Following Sanusi’s allegation, the FRC accused Sanusi of financial recklessness and recommended that he be asked to step aside, which was eventually upheld by Jonathan, leading to the sacking of the former CBN boss.
After Sanusi was removed from office, he was probed by the FRC but he shunned several invitations from the council and later sued the agency for defamation of character.
Similarly, the FRC under Obazee suspended Atedo Peterside as the chairman of Stanbic IBTC in October 2015, citing infractions in the 2013-14 financial statements of the bank as the reason for its decision.
The council at the time directed the Deposit Money Bank to restate and to re-issue its 2013-14 financial statements. It consequently imposed a N1bn fine on the DMB.
It also suspended other senior management officials of Stanbic IBTC, including the Group Managing Director, Sola David-Borha and chief finance officer, among others. The council, however, lifted the suspension on the bank’s management in December 2016.
Jim Obazee, a BSc. holder in Accounting from the University of Benin, and MSc. Accounting from the University of Lagos, also has a certification in Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation from Harvard University, United States.
The former FRC boss is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management, as well as the American Accounting Association.