OBJ, Atiku and the Code of Conduct Tribunal

By Dolapo Okunniga

A revered legal scholar had this to say at a jurisprudence class at the university, “if our leaders be made to swear by deities such as Ogun or Sango, perhaps they will learn to keep to the oath they swore when taking the mantle of office. I am sure they wouldn”t want to incure the wrath of this dieties.Many think God as patient as longsuffering and therefore renege on the oath sworn by Him.” The topic was on the relationship between law, morality and religion. My teacher’s opinion mirrored mine then and especially now because public officials and almost all Nigerians have adopted the fashion of lying on oath.

They swear by the holy Bible or Quoran(since God is thought to be patient) to uphold the book of the law (our constitution) in rendering service to the masses. But the reverse is the case as most (if not all) contravene the oath on assumption of office.

This is true in view of recent sessions held by the Senate which found both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice president Atiku Abubakar guilty of involvement in the PTDF scam. The implication is that they contravened the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained in the fifth schedule of the 1999 constitution, that swore to uphold while taking the oath of office.

Section 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers read thus, “a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interests conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.”

Their contravention of this law seem to have trampled the chances of Atiku ever holding public office again and has made mockery of President Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade.

Now since duo have decided to stay on and destroy our national integrity having refused to resign even on the basis of integrity, they have to face the Code of Conduct Bureau which is an office created under the constitution, to create awareness among public officers on the constitutional provision of assets declaration by them. Defaulters are subjected to thorough investigation and if found guilty, recommended to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for trial.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal established under section 15 consists a chairman and two persons and the chairman shall be a person who has held or is qualified to hold office as a judge of a court of record in Nigeria. Section 15(4) gives the National Assembly the power to confer on the Code of Conduct Tribunal additional powers as it seem necessary enable it effectively discharge its functions.”

However if found culpable,the President and Vice president would according to Section 18 (2) (a) (b) (c) vacate office or seat in a legislative house as the case may be; be disqualified from membership of a legislative house and from holding any public office for a period no exceeding ten years and would have such properties acquired in abuse or corruption of office seized or forfeited.

In Section 18(3),all the sanctions imposed above would operate separately without prejudice to penalties that may be imposed by law where the conduct is a criminal offence. The implication is that the duo may also face a different prosecution for all criminal charges brought against them.

But the curious provision is contained in section 15(3) which provides, “the chairman and members of the code of conduct tribunal shall be appointed by the president in accordance with the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.”

The question now remains who appoints the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the event that the president is found culpable after the Bureau finishes its investigation? To me this looks like another strange lacuna in our constitution.