Following my piece last week on the mind-boggling corruption allegations against the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, I received huge text messages, some of them querying why I suggested he should step aside when “he has not been convicted by a law court.” Some said he should not be forced to step aside based on the allegations. My answer is very simple: He has to step aside to clear his name in conformity with the civil service rules. Justice Umar is a civil servant. It is misleading to say that a public officer accused of corruption cannot be asked to step aside and clear his name because paragraph 030406 of the Federal Government Public Service Rules (Corrected Version 2008) stipulates that when a civil servant is facing allegations of malfeasance or misconduct (Even if the person has not been charged to court) he or she may be suspended pending investigation into the allegation of malfeasance or misconduct against him or her.
The Supreme Court has held it in a number of decided cases that such
interdiction or suspension does not violate the fundamental rights of
the officers involved. Please, Justice Umar, step aside. The allegations
against you are mind-boggling. More are still filtering through. In one
of the cases against the CCT Chairman, he was recommended to the EFCC
for prosecution by the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice,
Mohammed Adokie for allegedly demanding N10 million bribe from an
accused in his tribunal. The integrity of our judiciary must not be
compromised. His aide allegedly collected N1.8 million from the same
accused person. Justice Umar should simply step aside and allow someone
else to continue with the Bukola Saraki case. It is wrong for Umar to be
presiding over cases of corruption allegations while he is being
investigated for similar issues.
THISDAY
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