Like Senate, Reps ask Tinubu to sack CCT chairman Umar

The House of Representatives has joined the Senate in calling for the removal of Danladi Umar, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), citing misconduct.

This decision was made during the House’s plenary session on Tuesday, November 26, solidifying a unified stance by the National Assembly.

This resolution aligns with the Senate’s earlier decision, invoking relevant provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and laws governing the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal.

Specifically, paragraph 17 (3), Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution (as amended), and section 22 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act (Cap C15 LFN) provide the legal basis for Umar’s removal.

Under these laws, the removal process requires the National Assembly to forward an address supported by a two-thirds majority from both chambers to the President, who must then act on it. This measure reflects the legislative commitment to ensuring accountability and integrity in public office.

READ ALSO:BREAKING: Senate asks Tinubu to sack Code of Conduct Tribunal chairman, Yakubu Umar

The motion in the House to support the Senate’s position was moved by Julius Ihonvbere, the House Leader and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Edo State.

Ihonvbere said the Code of Conduct Tribunal is one of the key components of Federal Institutions in the country, saying, “It is saddled with the statutory responsibilities of maintaining high standards of morality in the conduct of government business and ensuring the actions and behaviours of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”

He said that a Statutory Institution of such magnitude is expected to be an epitome of moral rectitude and virtues of integrity, probity, and accountability, however, the official conduct of Mr. Yakubu Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, has fallen short of the requisite standard of a public officer to conduct the affairs of such a tribunal.

He said the conduct of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, who recently engaged in a public brawl with a security guard at the Banex Plaza Shopping Complex, necessitated an invitation from the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions.

The House Leader said that after his first appearance, during which he admitted to having been involved in the brawl, he refused to attend subsequent sittings, thereby frustrating the committee’s efforts to investigate the allegations against him

He stressed that by the provisions of section paragraph 17 (3), PT 1, Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and section 22(3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap C15 LFN 2004, Mr. President is mandated to act on an address supported by a two-thirds majority of the Senate and House of Representatives and praying that the Chairman be so removed for misconduct.

He argued that the invocation of the aforementioned constitutional provision in this circumstance seems to be the only way out to safeguard the sacred image of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, in line with the resolution of the 10th National Assembly.