The Senate has removed chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Danladi Umar, citing allegations of gross misconduct.
This decision was made under Section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which grants the Senate authority to dismiss certain public officials after following due process.
The resolution came after a closed-door session that lasted over 90 minutes.
Upon resuming plenary, the Senate confirmed that more than 84 senators voted in favor of Umar’s removal.
The motion for his dismissal was introduced by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele who emphasised the critical responsibility of the CCT in upholding accountability and ethical standards within government institutions.
He said that “the Senate has been inundated with series of petitions and allegations of corruption/misconduct against the Chairman, a situation that necessitated the 9th Senate, through the Senate Committee on Ethics Code of Conduct and Public Petitions to invite him to series of its investigative hearings in order to unravel the circumstances surrounding those allegations.
“However, he appeared before the Committee only once and thereafter avoided subsequent invitations.”
The Senate leader also added that the Senate was also concerned “about his alleged absenteeism from office far more than one month, without permission and recuse to his position, coupled with preponderance of corruption allegation, misappropriation, and physical street brawl with a security man in the FCT vis-à-vis his current investigation by the EFCC, ICPC and the DSS All these are tantamount to acts of negligence and gross misconduct, unbecoming of a Chairman of such reputable Tribunal.”
The Senate leader also referenced the recent confirmation of Abdullahi Bello as the new chairman of the CCT.
