Senate, yesterday, initiated
fresh moves to whittle down the powers of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
In a Bill tagged “Code
of Conduct Act Cap C15 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016”, and sponsored by
Senator Peter Nwaboshi, Senate is seeking to transfer control of both the CCT
and CCB from the Office of Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) to
the National Assembly or Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation
(AGF).
Prior to the reading of the bill for the first
time, a mild drama played out when the first Order Paper of the day circulated
to newsmen was withdrawn. In the withdrawn order paper,the Code of Conduct bill
was omitted, but included in the copy distributed to lawmakers.
The second Order Paper
was distributed to newsmen few minutes after the lawmakers concluded a closed
door session, where the Bill ought to have been read for the first time,
contrary to parliamentary procedure that it should be read in plenary.
Daily Sun gathered from
some lawmakers that the new Bill was a product of a meeting held at the
residence of the Senate president in Maitama on Monday night by Like
Minds Senators.
A lawmaker, who was at
the meeting and privy to the details of the meeting which lasted for over two
hours, said it was convened at the instance of the leader of pro-Saraki Like
Minds group, Dino Melaye.
But explaining the
rationale behind the Amendment Bill, Nwaoboshi, said the Senate was ready to
give it speedy hearing, with the hope that it would be passed before the
expiration of the ongoing assets falsification trial of Saraki.
He refuted claims that
the Bill had nothing to do with the ongoing trial of Saraki by the CCT...
- Sun
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