Apparently due to public pressure, the Nigerian Senate has suspended further action on move to amend the Code of Conduct Act which was initiated and referred to its committees on Judiciary and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions last week.
The senate took this decision today(Wednesday) during a closed door session, which also saw it stepping down its Ethics Committee report on Senator Kabiru Marafa, who has been an opponent of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki.
Similarly, the senate also suspend further amendment of Administration of Criminal Justice Acts (ACJA) which was ongoing.
The legislative upper chamber had in an unusual manner gave the bill an accelerated action taking it through second reading in just 48 hours, when it was introduced on April 14, with the view to amending the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act.
The said bill was sponsored by Peter Nwaoboshi, passed second reading and was subsequently referred to the committees on Judiciary and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
This attracted a wide public outcry from the Nigerian public, who viewed the amendment as a deliberate attempt to weaken these bodies that are captured in the fifth schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The bill is seeking to specifically to amend Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act “to give every public officer appearing before the Bureau fair hearing as provided for under Section 36 (2)(a) of the CFRN 1999 which provides:
“For an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person.”
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