From Fred Itua, Abuja
THE Senate is in the news again. Almost like always, the Red Chamber is in the news for the wrong reasons. The Upper Legislative Chamber appears to have incurred the wrath of the people, following its recent moves to whittle down the powers of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). The fresh move by the Senate to transfer the control of both CCT and CCB from the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) to the National Judicial Council (NJC) or the legislature may not augur well with the lawmakers who are fighting to save their embattled president, Dr. Bukola Saraki from an imminent conviction and eventual sack.
The bill seeking to whittle down the powers of CCB and CCT is tagged “Code of Conduct Act Cap C15 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016”, and is sponsored by Senator Peter Nwaboshi from Delta State. Unlike in the past, the Senate is giving the bill an unprecedented accelerated hearing. Although it was read for the first time last Tuesday, the bill has already scaled second reading and has been given the nod to go for a public hearing. If the Senate maintains the current momentum, the bill maybe passed before the end of April this year.
When the bill was first read last Tuesday, lawmakers had expected that civil society organizations and other interest groups would protest. Surprisingly, it did not cause any uproar. Then last Thursday, it was hurriedly read for the second time. As expected, the man of the moment, Saraki was absent during the consideration of the bill. It was however gathered that the Senate President was in his office in the National Assembly, but chose to boycott the day’s plenary in order to fence off criticisms that he is assuming jurisdiction over his own case. The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu presided in Saraki’s place.
During the peaceful consideration of the bill, lawmakers, who are predominantly core supporters of Saraki, hailed the proposal and called on the Senate to speedily pass the bill in order to restructure CCB and CCT for optimal performance. Senator Nwaoboshi who is the arrowhead, while defending the amendment bill, insinuated that he was on a rescue mission to save the judiciary from the grip of political office holders.
He argued: “We want to save Nigerians from overzealous politicians, the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Code of Conduct Bureau now under the Office of the Secretary to the Government.
“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.
“What we intend by the bill, is 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. We do not want it to be reporting to a politician and being over sighted by a politician. It should be seen as an independent body, doing its job. So, we will give them what they are entitled to.
“Otherwise, one day like we are seeing now, if you are an enemy to the SGF, he will use the CCB to put you into trouble, charge you there like we are seeing now. So, to make it to be really neutral and be independent, we are trying to save Nigerians. Any politician could be written to whenever he steps on the toes of the SGF.
“The intent is not because of what is happening, it is because we want to save Nigerians. We want Nigerians to see that you cannot put a quasi judicial arm under the control of the SGF who is a politician, appointed by the President, doing political job, then you put him in charge.
“The CCB said you should declare your asset upon assumption of office and when you are leaving office, you declare your asset. 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 100 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 but takes another 15 years.
“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.
“Do you now see the patriotism in what I am doing? There should be a time frame, not when you wake up any day, you just slam anybody. I am doing this as a patriotic Nigerian to make sure this body is not used as a political weapon to witch hunt your political opponents or an individual.
“I would not shy away as a result of what people would say to do what I think is right for the Nigerian people. My duty is to the Nigerian people. We should not leave a sensitive organ like that under the whims and caprices of a politician who is the SGF. It should be left in the hands of the judiciary or the legislature.”
Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West), while commenting, said, CCT had deviated from its original mandate. He said it had delved into criminal prosecution and therefore called on his colleagues to support the bill.
He said: “The Act has delved into criminal prosecution. Another section I am particularly interested in is that, there must be three judges before the tribunal can sit. As of now, there are only two judges. Laws are made to suit the peculiarities of the moment.”
Senators Jibrin Barau from Kano State, Sam Anyanwu from Imo State and Bukar Abba Ibrahim from Yobe State, all spoke in favour of the bill. While Barau maintained that there is need to shape the country’s laws in order to ensure fairness in our judicial system, Anyanwu argued that it was the duty of lawmakers to amend laws whenever the need arises. “I am not sure there is any lawmaker that has anything against this bill. Let us just go ahead and put it to a vote,” Abba Ibrahim said.
Senator Biodun Olujimi from Ekiti State opined: “We are licensed as Senators to look at laws and see how we can make them better. Right now, we have a situation that is bad and the Act is being used inconclusively. This Bill should go to the committee so that they can act on it.”
But a lawmaker from Kebbi State, Yahaya Abdullahi, opposed the timing of the amendment bill. He warned his colleagues to be mindful of public perception, adding that it could be erroneously interpreted to mean that amendment is hurriedly being muted in order to frustrate the ongoing trial of Saraki. Senator Abdullahi is not one of the core antagonists of Saraki, but he was the only opposing voice that spoke against the timeliness of the amendment bill. Ironically, Senators who are members of Unity Forum kept mum throughout the duration of the debate on the bill.
Senator Abdullahi had cautioned: “I rise to raise a point of caution. I am against the timing of the amendment. We must look at the perception of the people. Nigerian people can interpret it to mean that we have something. Nigerians will question why we are doing this now if not that our President is facing trial. That is what Nigerians will think. We need to be careful.”
In his closing remarks, Senator Ekweremadu who had been fingered as one of the covert lawmakers gunning to replace Saraki, insisted that the amendment bill had nothing to do with the Senate President’s trial, maintaining that they were not afraid to carry out their legislative functions as lawmakers.
Ekweremadu had said: “It appears to me that there is a high level of acceptance of the bill. I want to say that this bill has nothing to do with the trial of the Senate president. As you are aware, the trial of the Senate president has started. It has absolutely nothing to do with it. We are only doing our work as lawmakers. We should not be scared to do our work. By all intent and purpose, we support CCB and CCT. But we must ensure that there is fairness. We are not trying to frusContinued
from Page 41trate the trial. It has nothing to do with it. We must do our work.”
After a brief debate, lawmakers unanimously voted in favour of the amendment bill and it was subsequently referred to the Senate committees on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions and Judiciary. The committees are expected to report back to the chamber within two weeks.
In another amendment bill, tagged, “ An Act to Amend the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and for Other Related Matters,” the Senate is seeking to remove the CCT from the list of courts that can initiate any criminal trial against an accused person. The amendment bill, sponsored by Senator Isah Misau from Bauchi State seeks that: “The provisions of this Act shall not apply to a court martial and such other courts or tribunals not being courts created and listed under Section 6(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.”
But pundits have been commenting since the debate started last Tuesday. They see it as a pay back gift to the executive. They also believe that it may suffer a major setback in the weeks to come. If the bill is passed by the Senate, it will be referred to the House of Representatives where it is expected to get a concurrence. But there are apprehensions that the House, which is predominantly occupied by All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers, unlike the Senate, will reject it. Beyond the four walls of the National Assembly, the bill will still need the signature of President Muhammadu Buhari before it can come into effect.
Some lawmakers are skeptical that the president may withhold his signature. But whether the National Assembly will exercise its powers and veto it after 30 days is something that has not yet been muted by lawmakers who are not leaving anything to chance to ensure that the amendment comes into effect.
There is another constitutional question on whether the bill, if passed into law, can be used to argue in favour or against the legitimacy of the ongoing trial of Saraki by the CCT. One of the key opponents of Saraki, Senator Kabir Marafa believes that the fresh moves to amend the CCB Act is a ploy to save Saraki from an imminent conviction. Already, he is calling on Nigerians to resist the move.
He said all the three proposed bills fall under constitutional amendment and not an act of the National Assembly. He said the bill is an attempt to rearrange the constitution and redraft it to suit the narrow purpose of Saraki and his supporters, adding that “this is pure constitutional amendment. He said the third bill was a controversial attempt to enlarge the immunity clause. Senator Marafa stated that Nigerians should lose no sleep over the current illegal moves by the pro-Saraki Senators, describing their efforts as “dead on arrival.”