How Senate blundered in move to remove CCT chair

A review of the activities of the National Assembly shows that this is not its first major blunder.

Last week, the Senate recommended the removal of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Umar Danladi, with overwhelming support of 84 senators voting in support of a motion moved by Opeyemi Bamidele, the Majority Leader of the Senate.

Mr Bamidele, a lawyer, anchored his motion on Section 157(2) of the Nigeria constitution to convince his colleagues to support the motion for Mr Danladi’s removal.

However, a review of the events by PREMIUIM TIMES reveals that the Senate committed a legislative blunder.

This is where it lies: the section he relied on applies to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) chairperson, not the CCT chair as presumed by the Senate. Despite spending over four hours in a closed-door session, none of the 84 senators who voted in support of the motion knew they were progressing in error.

Section 157(1) of the Constitution reads: “Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by a two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause), or for misconduct.”

Section 157(2) provides further clarity by listing the specific federal executive bodies to which the process applies. They include the CCB, the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Judicial Council, the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the Federal Character Commission, the Nigeria Police Council, the National Population Commission, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and the Police Service Commission.

This section does not include the CCT in the list.

How to Remove the CCT Chairman

The process for the removal of the CCT chairman and members is captured under section 17(3) of the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution, which outlines the actual steps to be taken. These steps differ from the process followed by Mr Bamidele and his colleagues.

The section provides that: “A person holding the office of the Chairman or member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall not be removed from his office or appointment by the president except upon an address supported by two-thirds majority of each House of the National Assembly praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office in question, whether arising from infirmity of mind or body, misconduct, or contradiction of the code.”

While the move for the ouster of Mr Danladi, a controversial public figure, may have public support, the Senate has been criticised for its lack of due diligence in the process.

“For the CCT Chairman to be removed, you need the resolution of the two/thirds of both chambers, the House and Senate. If this is not the process that has been followed, then there is a problem. This is regardless of how desirable his removal is,” Jiti Ogunye, a constitution lawyer, said via a phone interview.

“The CCT chairman, for a long time, has been an accident waiting to happen. The CCT run by him has been plagued by integrity issues and all sorts of other issues,” Mr Ogunye added.

Capacity gap of blundering Assembly

A review of the activities of the National Assembly shows that this is not its first major blunder. PREMIUM TIMES has published a series of reports showing how the National Assembly often commits errors in the legislative process.

In June 2023, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tambawal, transmitted a bill—the Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill 2021—to President Tinubu for assent. However, the bill was only passed by the Senate and not concurred with by the House of Representatives, as stipulated by the constitution. It was quietly withdrawn after the blunder was discovered.

More recently, the House passed a resolution to investigate the increased allocation to the states through the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), despite lacking the powers to probe the activities of governors. The House later rescinded this decision after recognising the error.

In July, the House held an extensive debate on the Samoa Agreement, during which several members argued about a purported “homosexual clause” in the documents. After the debate, the House called on the federal government to suspend the implementation of the agreement pending an investigation. However, the event revealed that none of the lawmakers had actually read the agreement and instead relied on a news report that later turned out to be false.

This blunder is the latest in what has become a series of lapses in legislative competence in the National Assembly, despite the substantial remuneration its members are paid as lawmakers.

To underscore the importance attached to the motion regarding the CCT chairman case, the Senate held a closed-door session for over four hours before taking its decision, yet it confused the CCB with the CCT. Notably, Mr Bamidele, the mover of the motion, is a lawyer. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Majority Whip, Tahiru Monguno, are also lawyers.

Mr Ogunye argued that there is an obvious gap in the capacity of members of the National Assembly to make laws, noting that this error only highlights the evident lack of competence.

“The National Assembly comprises politicians, many of whom are not lawyers, and many of whom are not familiar with how to read legislation, let alone interpret those provisions and understand them. The business of lawmaking is a serious one. Anybody who wants to go into the National Assembly or even the State Assembly to engage in lawmaking and governance generally ought to know a bit about lawmaking. If they do not have that background, they cannot just go to the job and say they will learn as they go along.

“These people don’t do refresher courses, they don’t do inductions, or even proper orientation courses to make them understand the rudiments of lawmaking,” Mr Ogunye said.

Controversial CCT chair spreads blunder to Senate, Presidency

Mr Danladi, a controversial figure, was a former magistrate in Bauchi State.

He became acting Chairman of the CCT in 2011 at the age of 36. He was later confirmed as substantive chairman on 11 June 2011.

According to the Constitution, the CCT Chairman has a guaranteed tenure ending at the age of 70. However, President Bola Tinubu announced the appointment of Mainasara Kogo as the new Chairman in July, even though Mr Danladi had not reached the age of 70.

He has been in the limelight for wrong reasons over the past few years.

In 2021, he assaulted a security guard, Clement Sargwak, at Banex Plaza in Abuja. The incident, caught on video, went viral on social media. Mr Sargwak filed a petition before the Senate, but Mr Danladi challenged the Senate’s powers to investigate the case, delaying any resolution until the end of the 9th Assembly.

The motion by Mr Bamidele, a close ally of the president, appears to be an attempt to rectify the president’s error. However, the Senate compounded the issue by relying on a wrong constitutional provision.