News making rounds has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked The head of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, Jim Obazee after implementing a law that led to the exit of Nigeria’s most influential Christian cleric, Enoch Adeboye as the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church Of God in Nigeria.
This is no doubt taking another dimension as it can be deduced that the Reedeemed Church cleric didn’t step down willingly but due to the enforcement of the law by the sacked FRCN Head. According to Adeboye during the announcement of his exit, he disclosed displeasure on the Government’s ‘pokenosing’ into church affairs. “The government has been showing increasing interest in church affairs. Unfortunately, for us in RCCG, it might not be very helpful,” he was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Tribune Newspapers during a church service. However, if the law persists, other General Overseers of Churches might be forced to resign. The likes of David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, Dr. Olukoya of Mountain Of Fire, and many more might be victims The Governance Code of 2016 put in place by the agency to implement the Act encompasses three sectors: the private, the public and not-for-profit. It is the not-for-profit sector, sometimes referred to as the Benevolent Sector, the Third Sector or the Civil Society Sector, that religious bodies fall under. Section 9.1. of the code states that “The Founder or Leader of a NFPO occupies a special position in the Organisation and is committed to the success and longevity of the NFPO.” Accordingly, a founder or leader should not take on too many responsibilities in the organisation or have an indefinite term in the running of the organisation, and is expected to not stay in office for more than 20 years.
President Buhari announced the sack of the FRC boss in a statement by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu. Mr. Obazee is to be replaced by Daniel Asapokhai while a new board, headed by Adedotun Sulaiman was also constituted for the agency. No official reason was given for Mr. Obazee’s sack Read Mr. Shehu’s full statement below: President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate removal and the replacement of the Executive Secretary and the reconstitution of the board of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRN). He has appointed a Chairman and a new Executive Secretary for the council. The new Council as approved by the President has Adedotun Sulaiman, MFR, as Chairman. Mr. Sulaiman was a former Managing Partner/Director of Arthur Anderson and later, Accenture. He is a Chartered Accountant and a product of the University of Lagos and Harvard Business School. The President has also approved the appointment of Daniel Asapokhai as the Executive Secretary of the Council. Mr. Asapokhai is a partner and a Financial Reporting Specialist at the PricewaterHouseCoopers (PWC), Nigeria. He is a product of the University of Lagos and the University of Pretoria. President Muhammadu Buhari has also instructed the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment to invite the nineteen ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government and private sector organizations specified in the FRC Act to nominate members of the board of the council.