Chief Registrar Takes Charge of Investments Tribunal as FG Directs Azi, Junaidu to Step Aside

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There are strong indications that peace has returned to the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) after days of heightened tension over a leadership squabble between the newly appointed Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Aminu Junaidu, and the outgoing chairman, Mr. Amos Isaac Azi, THISDA’s investigation has revealed.

THISDAY gathered that both officers had laid claims to the office based on conflicting appointment letters purportedly authorised by President Bola Tinubu.

Normalcy, however, returned when the Chief Registrar of the Tribunal, Mr.  Shehu Kuta, was directed to take charge in acting capacity.

Junaidu, a former attorney-general of Zamfara State, resumed duties at the head office of the Tribunal on October 2, based on an appointment letter dated September 24, 2025, and signed by the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Senator George Akume. 

However, trouble began when the outgoing chairman, Azi, who had served out an initial five-year tenure just two months earlier, told his successor that he was unwelcome because the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Lydia S. Jafiya, had earlier renewed his appointment in a letter dated August 21, 2025, purportedly also on Tinubu’s authority.

Multiple sources told THISDAY that the stand-off almost led to a physical confrontation when the outgoing chairman reported to work very early with security details and took charge of the office.

THISDAY gathered that Junaidu, who also arrived with some armed policemen, averted any form of physical confrontation when he stayed away from his office and reported to the Office of the Chief Registrar where he held an introductory meeting with directorate staff.

However, before the tension escalated, a delegation from the finance ministry arrived shortly at the premises and invited the feuding parties to a meeting at the Ministry of Finance headquarters.

An internal memo to staff of the Tribunal dated October 3, 2025, signed by a deputy director at the Tribunal and sighted by THISDAY, indicated that after the meeting between the two contending chairmen and the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the two were directed to step aside.

“Be notified that in view of the prevailing situation in the Tribunal the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, has directed the Chief Registrar to act as the Head of the Tribunal with immediate effect. Your cooperation and support on this development are highly solicited,” the notice stated.

A capital market analyst blamed the leadership crisis on ignorance of the law or outright mischief by one of the appointing authorities.

 According to him, the Minister of Finance used to be the appointing authority over the chairman and members of the Tribunal, according to the provisions of the old Investments and Securities Act. 

 The analyst noted that at that time, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, being the authority that gives potency or life to policy decisions made by the minister, according to Public Service Rules, used to convey the appointments of chairman and members of the Tribunal.

He stated that a new legislation – Investments and Securities Act, 2025 – has transferred the powers to the President, who legally stripped the Permanent Secretary of the authority to convey the appointments. 

With the new Act, he said the power now resides with the SGF.

Part XVII, Sections 315 and 316(2) of the Act prescribes how the chairman and members of the Tribunal are to be appointed.

Section 315 of the Act stipulates that the Tribunal shall consist of 12 persons to be appointed as members by the President on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance. Section 316(1) prescribes that the Minister shall recommend to the President eligible candidates as Chairman and members.

Section 316(2) provides that the Minister shall have power to recommend to the President any disciplinary action against the Chairman or any member.

But sources within IST told THISDAY that despite these clear statutory provisions, certain officials of the government usurped the powers of the president and the minister to secure the controversial renewal of the outgoing chairman's tenure. 

One of the sources stated that the anomaly surrounding the reappointment of the outgoing chairman came to the open when the Minister of Finance declined to swear in the chairman and members and alerted the Presidency.

According to him, after due consideration, the Presidency was said to have issued another appointment letter by the SGF, which effectively cancelled out the earlier one done by the permanent secretary since their inauguration was earlier declined and members were yet to be sworn in. 

At the Tribunal, most staff members received news of the appointment of the new chairman with relief and enthusiasm because of how the outgoing chairman ran a one-man show over the past five years. 

They complained that Azi, on being appointed from the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC), where he retired as a deputy director, suppressed the top directors of the Tribunal and rather used junior officers to run his show.

 “He appointed deputy directors and assistant directors to head the Finance and Accounts, Procurement, Human Resources and General Services and Administration, leaving out directors in the cold,” one of the sources alleged.

They revealed that, while Azi was in charge, no single director of the Tribunal got an official car which is a basic entitlement to assistant directors and managers at SEC where he came from.

 They also alleged it was because of his litany of failings especially resistance to counter views and vindictiveness that news of his reappointment threw the staff into mourning, with some openly shedding tears. 

“The Tribunal hadn’t employed new staff since 2005 due to government embargo, but when the outgoing chairman eventually obtained a waiver to recruit staff to replace aging and retiring ones, he craftily engaged his people and children of his former colleagues at the SEC.

“Since he came no single staff or member ever got trained abroad, whereas the previous management had secured training partnerships with global capital market institutions to place the Tribunal at par with its peers,” the source explained.

The sources further disclosed that, in order to stop him from converting the Tribunal to his personal estate, key stakeholders made representations to the Presidency to stall his swearing- in for a second term, resulting in the appointment of the new chairman.