ELECTORAL ACT AMENDMENT: SERAP PETITIONS CCB OVER ALLEGED ABUSE OF OFFICE BY SENATE
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By: Muftau Fatimo
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to investigate certain senators over their alleged role in removing provisions on real-time transmission of election results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
According to reports, the lawmakers reportedly deleted the provisions during a plenary session, despite a majority of senators having voted for their inclusion, and did so without any debate on the proposed removal.
SERAP made the call in a statement issued by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, addressed to the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Abdullahi Usman Bello.
The rights organization urged the Bureau to promptly and thoroughly investigate any members of the National Assembly and executive branch officials who allegedly altered the Tax Reform Bills, resulting in discrepancies between the harmonized versions passed by the National Assembly and the copies signed into law and gazetted by the Federal Government.
The organization highlighted additional concerns, including conflicts of interest, abuse of office, non-disclosure of interests, lack of due process, and violations of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers in the exercise of legislative powers.
It noted that the petition was submitted pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 9 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers in the Fifth Schedule, Part I of the Nigerian Constitution (1999, as amended), as well as sections 5 and 13 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
“Where lawmaking is influenced by abuse of office and conflicts of interest, it ceases to be a legitimate exercise of constitutional and fiduciary responsibility and becomes a legal and ethical violation prohibited under the Code of Conduct for Public Officers,” the statement partly read.
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