TheCable

The senate has passed the Code of Conduct (amendment) bill, 2016, effectively taking control of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The passage of the bill is coming months after the trial of Senate President Bukola for false asset declaration commenced at the CCT.

Saraki had criticised the CCB, which filed the charges against him, for not inviting him for questioning on the charges before it filed them.

Although, actual amendments to the Act were done by the house of representatives and passed on May 31, the senate concurred with the house and passed the bill on Thursday.

Early in the year, the upper legislative chamber‎ had sought to amend the Act, but a public outcry forced it to shelve it, although a similar bill has been reintroduced.

The senate passed 14 amendments to the Act.
‎
It amended section 3 of the Act thus: “Upon complaint(s) of any breach or where it appears to the bureau that there is a breach of the provision or this Act, the person concerned shall be given particulars of such non compliance or breaches to explain before any reference to the tribunal.”

This implies that the CCB cannot immediately refer a matter to the CCT without giving a public officer a notice; one of the contentions of Saraki.

Section 1 (4) which was expunged, and replaced with “the chairman and members shall serve for a term of five years subject to renewal for one further term only”.

Section 4 (2) was amended to substitute the word “president” with “the national assembly” as the one to confer powers on the bureau and the tribunal.

The senate fixed the age of entry to the bureau at 50, and the number of members of the tribunal to sit in judgment on a case at three.

Saraki had challenged the composition of the members of the tribunal handling his trial.

Only Danladi Umar, the chairman and a member of the tribunal, has been‎ handling his trial.