TheCable

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) will relocate to Akwa Ibom state between December 6 and December 9 for the trial of 50 public officers in the state.

Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, disclosed this in a statement he issued on Wednesday.

According to Umar, the defendants comprise former special advisers and local government councilors who served between 2008 and 2009.

He said two clerks from Esit and Etim local governments will also be tried.

“The tribunal’s itinerant session helps to clear up backlogs of cases in the zone within the period of the session,” he said.

“It also makes legal services at the door step of the defaulters, particularly the low-ranking public officers and as well serves as a means of publicising the activities of the tribunal within the zone.

“The essence is to further strengthen relationship between CCT and the hosting state, whose infrastructure and other logistics would be used for the session.”

The tribunal is the enforcement and disciplinary arm of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

All public officers in the federal, state and local government levels are compelled by the Act of the bureau to declare their assets within the period of engagement.

The tribunal recently convicted Godsday Orubebe, former minister of Niger Delta affairs, for breaching CCB Act, while the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki is ongoing.