Just
48 hours after it was read, the bill to amend the Code of Conduct
Tribunal and Bureau Act has scaled second reading at Senate. In
Nigeria's lawmaking process, rarely do bills get such accelerated
legislative action.
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
bill, sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta
Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, one of Saraki's loyalist, 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. If passed, the bill will cut
down the powers of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, and CCT
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