Saraki’s CCT trial: Senate moves to amend CCB Act

Plans to take Bureau off SGF’s office
‘It must be neutral and not report to a politician’
‘Investigation of declared assets must have time frame’

A process to whittle down the powers of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) began on Tuesday at the Senate as it passed for first reading, a bill to amend the Act establishing the Bureau, to remove it from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Speaking in an interview with newsmen after plenary, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who sponsored the bill, noted that it had become necessary to amend the Act establishing the CCB as well as the Tribunal.

He said that the main aim of the amendment was to move the CCB as well as the Tribunal away from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The lawmaker explained that the move became necessary because the SGF is a politician and could use both the Bureau and the Tribunal as instruments of witch-hunt against his political opponents. Nwaoboshi argued that, since the Supreme Court said that the CCT was a court with jurisdiction of some sorts, it was necessary for it to be independent and not report to any politician. He said: “the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Code of Conduct Bureau now is under the Office of the Secretary to the Government SGF). “The Secretary to the Government is a politician and can use it as a politician against political opponents or perceived political opponents: he oversees the CCB and the CCT, they report to his office.

“So since the Supreme Court in their judgment has said that they are a court of some sort, they must be seen to be neutral in nature and to not report to a politician. “We want to make it completely neutral, either move it to the judiciary or move it to the National Assembly that has the power to remove the Chairman and members of the tribunal. Otherwise, one day like we are seeing now, if you are an enemy to the SGF, he uses the CCB to put you into trouble, charge you there like we are seeing now. “The intent is not because of what is happening, you cannot put a quasi-judicial arm under the control of the SGF who is a politician, appointed by the President,” he said. The Senator further said that part of the amendment to the Act would also include to stipulate a time line within which the bureau should investigate assets declared by a political office holder. He said that it was out of place for the CCB to prescribe that a political office holder should declare assets at the beginning and end of his tenure while the bureau decided when to investigate.

“Within the time you came to office and the time you are leaving office they must have investigated that your asset, what is left is to investigate the asset declared when leaving office. “You do not just leave it for so many years, then all of a sudden, someone wakes up and says: 56 years ago you did not declare your asset, that should not be so. “You have been given a time frame to declare at the beginning and at the end but within the four years, the CCB does not conduct its investigations immediately. Who says that someone cannot stand up tomorrow when President Buhari leaves office and says that he did not declare his asset at a particular time?

“The court has said that it made a mistake in Tinubu’s case which means another political party can come up tomorrow and pick up Tinubu. There should be a time frame, not when you wake up any day, you just slam anybody, do you now see the patriotism in what I am doing?,” he asked. Reacting to what would be the perception of Nigerians in view of the fact that the President of the Senate is currently standing trial before the CCT, he said that Nigerians’ perception would not stop him from carrying on with the proposed amendment. He said that he would not shy away from doing something that is right and patriotic because of what Nigerians would say. “My duty is to the Nigerian people; we should not leave a sensitive organ like that under the whims and caprises of a politician who is the SGF.

It should be left in the hands of the Judiciary or the Legislature,” he said. Meanwhile, a source close to the Senate told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that the bill was one of the strategies designed by the pro-Saraki senators to rescue him from his current entanglement at the CCT. The source said that decision to sponsor the bill was taken at a meeting allegedly held in Abuja on Monday by the Like Minds Senators, who have vowed to save Saraki at all cost from the impending doom, following his trial at the tribunal for alleged falsification of assets declaration. The source also told our correspondent that part of the game plan was to hasten the passage of the bill, and that where the President refused to sign it into law, the National Assembly would override his veto.

Efforts to get senators comment further on this failed as none of them was willing to make any statement on the alleged plan. The Senate also passed for first reading, seven other bills including a Bill Seeking to Amend the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) which was passed by the last National Assembly and was not assented to. Other bills passed for first reading by the Senate include: In-Vitro Fertilisatiion Bill 2016, Criminal Injuries Compensation Bill and National Sports Commission Establishment Bill. Also passed for first reading are Nigeria Football Federation Establishment Bill and Environmental Health Officers Registration Amendment Bill. The Senate commenced Tuesday’s plenary with about an hour long executive session, where according to the President of the Senate, it discussed issues concerning the 2016 Budget and the well-being of the Senate.