By Ise-Oluwa Ige
The Senate on Wednesday sacked the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Yakubu Danladi Umar, from office with immediate effect.
That was more than five months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had removed him and named a replacement, Dr Mainasara Umar Kogo, without following procedure.
Kogo is a seasoned lawyer and analyst in the fields of law, security, economy, politics, and international diplomacy.
He was expected to replace Justice Danladi Umar whose tenure of office was still running at the time Kogo’s appointment was announced in July this year.
Tinubu who did not give any reason for the purported sack of Justice Danladi however said that he expected the new chairman, Dr Kogo, to discharge the functions of his office with professionalism, integrity, and fidelity to the nation.
However, soon after Dr Mainassara Kogo was named the new chairman of the CCT, top lawyers in private and public service including a former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Bayero University Kano, Prof Mamman Lawan Yusufari, SAN, Mr Ikoro N. Ikoro, among others, faulted the appointment for more reasons than one.
Specifically, the lawyers, by their combined submissions, cited Paragraphs 15 (3), 17 (1),(3),(4) of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) for standing against Justice Umar’s removal.
Indeed, Paragraph 15(3) of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) provides that 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 while Paragraph 17(3) provides that they shall not be removed from their office except upon an address supported by two-thirds majority of each House of the National Assembly only for inability to discharge the functions of the office in question (whether arising from infirmity of the mind or body) or for misconduct or for contravention of this code
Similarly Paragraph 17(1) says the Chairman or member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall vacate his office when he attains the age of seventy (70) years while Paragraph 17(4) says the chairman or members of the tribunal shall not be removed from office before retiring age save in accordance with the provisions of the code of conduct for public officers.
The lawyers who cited the provisions said that though it is not in dispute that Dr Kogo may be qualified for appointment as chairman of CCT, yet, the record showed that he was not recommended by neither the Federal Judicial Service Commission nor the National Judicial Council to President Tinubu, a condition precedent, before his appointment was announced.
It was also their argument that though Justice Umar had had a running battle with the authorities in the past, yet, at no time was he indicted of misconduct nor was the two chambers of the National Assembly, by an address, supported by two-third majority, asked for his removal from office.
Besides, the lawyers said Justice Danladi is less than 70 years and therefore cannot be removed except according to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
Following the opposition to Danladi’s removal by press statement, President Tinubu went back to the drawing board to strategize on how to actually boot him out of office.
Although Danladi Umar himself wrote a letter to the Presidency to protest his removal, not a word was said in response.
Danladi consequently remained in office and has started sitting as CCT chairman while Dr Kogo was shut out of office.
But on Wednesday, the upper chamber of the National Assembly revisited the issue.
Relying on the provisions of Section 157 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the senate said that Danladi was no longer fit to remain in the office by virtue of what it called his unacceptable misconduct,
Indeed, Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution specifically provides that a person holding the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the President acting on an address supported by 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 that the constitutional provision (Section 157 (1)) applies to the offices of the Chairman and members of the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Independent National Electoral Commission, 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.
According to the Senate, it became imperative to remove him from that sensitive position because his actions were unbecoming of a holder of such an office and his level of gross misconduct no longer acceptable.
Justice Danladi’s sins
Going memory lane, Justice Danladi has actually had issues with the authorities lately.
For instance, in 2018, the incumbent Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, as an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, prosecutor, had filed a bribery and judicial racketeering case against Justice Danladi Umar, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He was accused of receiving N1.8 million out of alleged N10 million he demanded from one Rasheed Taiwo in 2012.
But the immediate past Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, withdrew Keyamo’s case against Umar for “lack of merit”.
The case was subsequently struck out by Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Abuja High Court.
His role in the code of conduct cases against former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen had caused him to step on toes.
The name of Danladi Umar resurfaced once again on March 29, 2021 for the wrong reasons.
He was seen in a viral video assaulting a 22-year-old security guard, Clement Sargwak, whose only offence was that he tried to do his job – ensure that Umar’s car was properly parked at the Banex Plaza parking lot, Wuse 2, in Abuja.
The Tribunal was later to issue a statement accusing Sargwak of threatening Umar and being “rude”.
The statement described the people who tried to save Sargwak from his highly-placed physical assailant as “Biafra boys”.
Contrary to expectations, those who hoped that the incident would as usual, die down after the initial fuss, were mistaken.
Several steps were taken by concerned rights groups to bring him to justice.
One, Sargwak’s legal counsel, Samuel Ihensekhien, Esq, petitioned the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, seeking an indictment of Umar for aggravated physical assault, cybercrime, racism and distribution of xenophobic material.
Two, the lawyer also filed a petition against Mr Umar to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition to investigate him and determine whether he remains a fit and proper person to continue to sit as chairman of the CCT.
The Senate panel headed by Ayo Akinyelure summoned Justice Danladi to appear before the Senate.
But instead of him to appear, the judicial officer had approached a Federal high court with an originating summons dated July 13, 2021, seeking an order to bar the senate from probing him while the panel suspended its sitting until conclusion of the case.
Three, the first Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, John Aikpokpo Martins, petitioned Umar at the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Council, LPPC, for violating professional conduct and putting the legal profession into public ridicule.
Also, a number of civil society groups called for action against Umar to save the sanctity of the office he occupies.
Also in June 2022, some workers in the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Abuja, accused Justice Danladi Umar, of fraud, corruption, nepotism and marginalization.
The chairman was also accused of awarding fraudulent contracts to friends without recourse to procedure and due process while he was also said to have blocked annual trainings for staff, among other allegations including that he had bed in his office.
But in all of these allegations, no indictment has been successfully established against him neither had the National Assembly, to the public knowledge, prayed President Tinubu to remove Justice Danladi upon an address by the two chambers of the national legislature as required by the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) until Wednesday when the senate took the bull by its horns afresh.
BAR & BENCH WATCH reports that the Senate had at 1.17pm gone into a closed door session on the matter that was listed as the first motion in the order paper and soon after, the Senate Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, APC, Borno North moved that the judicial officer can be sacked by invoking Section 157 (1) of the Constitution.
The motion to sack Umar as CCT Chairman was moved in the Order Paper by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central.
It was titled, “Invocation of the provision of Section 157 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended for the removal of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”
According to Bamidele, ‘The Senate notes that the Code of Conduct Tribunal is one of the key components of Federal Institutions in the country, saddled with the sacred statutory responsibilities of maintaining high standard of morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviours of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability;
It also notes that a statutory institution of such magnitude is expected to be an epitome of moral rectitude and should be seen to uphold the virtues of integrity, probity and accountability.
However, the conduct of Mr. Yakubu Danladi Umar, who is the Chairman of the Tribunal has fallen short of the requisite standard of a public officer to conduct the affairs of such Tribunal;
“Concerned 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.
“Also concerned about his alleged absenteeism from office for 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 a reputable Tribunal;
“Aware of the series of overwhelming allegations against the Chairman, Mr. President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, forwarded the name of Mr. Abdullahi Usman Bello to the Senate for confirmation as the new Chairman of the Tribunal, and at the Plenary Sitting of the Senate on Thursday, 4th July, 2024, his appointment was duly confirmed, hence the need for the erstwhile Chairman to vacate the office for the substantive Chairman to officially resume office,” the senate directed.
Justice Danladi Umar
BAR & BENCH WATCH reports that Justice Danladi Umar, a Fulani by tribe, was born on August 19, 1971 in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, in Northeastern Nigeria and was appointed at age 36 to the CCT as Acting Chairman.
Prior to becoming the acting chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) of Nigeria, he was a lawyer and a Chief Magistrate in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
He became the substantive chairman of the CCT four months later on July 11, 2011, replacing his predecessor, Justice Murtala Adebayo Sanni who died on January 24, 2011.
That was after the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) and the National Judicial Council (NJC) screened and recommended him respectively to the president (President Goodluck Jonathan) for the appointment.
He was sworn in by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), late Justice Aloysius A. I. Katsina-Alu at the Supreme Court alongside two other new tribunal members, retired Justice Robert Isaac Ewa Odu and Barrister Atedze William Agwaza, making up the three members of the CCT tribunal.
He is the youngest person to ever hold the office of the chairman of the CCT.
By virtue of the provisions of Paragraph 17(1) of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) and barring any serious ill-health, misconduct or death, he is expected to remain the helmsman of the tribunal until he clocks the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
Specifically, Justice Danladi is constitutionally billed to retire in 2041.
But on July 13, 2024, when he still has 17 more years on the bench, President Tinubu removed him from office, although illegally.
