Six days after sacking Danladi Umar as Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) through invocation of Section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Senate admitted errors made in executing the action on Tuesday.
While correcting the error, the Senate, through a motion moved by its Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, took fresh steps to correct the mistake, which eventually made the House of Representatives concur with the Senate by also sacking Danladi with two-thirds votes of its members.
Bamidele, in the motion titled: “Urgent need to correct a mistake made regarding the removal from office of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal for Misconduct “, said the motion aimed to address the error and correct the procedural lapse.
The Senate got it wrong: despite spending over four hours in a closed-door session, they referenced a lousy section that applies to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) chairperson rather than the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) chairperson.
The Senate’s leadership is dominated by legal professionals, including Bamidele and Majority Whip Tahir Monguno.
However, this legal expertise could have prevented a glaring misstep. The Senate had cited Section 157(1) of the Nigerian Constitution as the basis for Danladi’s removal.
This section provides guidelines for removing heads of certain federal executive bodies but does not include the CCT among its listed entities.
Also, despite spending a long time in a closed-door session, none of the 84 senators who supported the motion knew they progressed in error.
The Senate Leader, however, after pointing out the procedural errors in Danladi Umar’s sacking as CCT Chairman, declared that the Chamber stands by its resolution on the removal of the CCT chairman on the grounds of misconduct.
While still in plenary, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, expressed his happiness that the House of Representatives had concurred with the Senate’s decision to remove Danladi Umar as CCT Chairman, as requested by relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
