A bill for an amendment of Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act scaled second reading at Senate, Thursday, just 48 hours after it was first read.
In Nigeria’s lawmaking process, rarely do bills get such accelerated legislative action.
The bill sponsored by Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta State), passed second reading and subsequently referred to the committees on Judiciary and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
The committees will report back in two weeks.
The bill seeks to amend Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act “to give every public officer appearing (before the) Bureau fair hearing provided for under Section 36 (2)(a) of the CFRN 1999 which provides:
“for an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person.”
The existing law, Mr. Nwaoboshi said in his lead argument, does not provide for the Bureau, CCB, to take written statement from concerned public officers before referring a matter of alleged non-compliance to the Tribunal, CCT.
Therefore, Mr. Nwaoboshi’s bill proposes that before a public officer suspected to have breached Code of Conduct law is referred to the Tribunal, the officer should first be allowed to take down his statement in writing.
This is the subject of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s last motion against his ongoing corruption trial at the Tribunal.He asked that the case against him be dismissed, since he was not invited by the CCB to give a written statement.
The Amendment bill also seeks to stop the CCT from using Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Code as a procedural template.
The bill was supported by the lawmakers who yelled “hai” when the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, put the question.
There was silence when the “nay” question was put.
Senators – Dino Melaye, Jibrin Barau, Abu Ibrahim, Abiodun Olujimi, Samuel Anyanwu – spoke in favour of the bill.
