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The Nigeria Police yesterday arrested a former official of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Farooq Oreagba,
former general manager of Strategy/New Products, who was sacked along
with 94 others, last Thursday, by Emmanuel Ikazoboh, the interim
director general of NSE, was arrested over his alleged refusal to
surrender some Exchange property in his possession.

Sola Oni, the NSE’s
spokesperson, who confirmed the arrest, said, “What actually happened
was that because he (Mr. Oreagba) has been disengaged and the Exchange
could not get some company’s properties with him, that was what led to
the involvement of the police.”

Mr. Oni, however, declined claims that Mr. Oreagba was arrested while he was handing over to the new head of the department.

“Some people called
me to ask if he was arrested while he was trying to hand over. All
these information is not true. For us to have involved the police, it
shows there was no voluntary submission of the NSE properties with him.

“We have said that
those who were disengaged will be given whatever they are entitled to,”
he said, adding that there is no basis for Mr. Oreagba to hold on to
the said property.

Legal action

Calls and text
messages to Mr. Oreagba’s mobile phone went unanswered. He, however,
called back late yesterday that he has been released. A market operator
and a close associate of his, who would not like to be named, said Mr.
Oreagba would soon consider legal action against his arrest.

“The police are
currently in the process of securing a warrant to undertake a search of
his house and personal effects, since they have not been able to find
any incriminating thing on him so far,” he said.

Meanwhile, some
operators said Mr. Oreagba was also caught attempting to tamper with or
delete information from some of the Exchange’s computer systems.

Market dealers at
Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, said, “An alert
was raised this (Tuesday’s) morning at and around 10am when it was
reported that he (Mr. Oreagba) came to the office yesterday (Monday) to
take his things but locked the office on his way out. When he came in
today (Tuesday), the officers on duty noticed some anomalies that led
to the invitation of the police force.”