The bill, sponsored by Delta State Senator Peter Nwaboshi, passed the first and second readings within 48 hours of each other, which is a very rushed pace compared to how other laws are handled by the Senate.
The embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki is rushing an amendment to the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Bureau Act, which, if passed into law, would end Mr. Saraki’s Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where he is being tried for corruption. One of the grievances is that the present law does not allow public officials to respond to complaints in writing before being referred to the tribunal. However, the Code of Conduct Bureau does allow public officials suspected of violating the law to respond to allegations notbefore formal charges are filed.
The bill, sponsored by Delta State Senator Peter Nwaboshi, passed the first and second readings within 48 hours of each other, which is a very rushed pace compared to how other laws are handled by the Senate.
This development follows Kogi State Senator Dino Melaye, who spoke in favor of the proposed amendments today on the Senate floor, convening a meeting of ‘Senators of Like Minds’ on April 11th at Mr. Saraki’s Maitama residence.
Sources speaking to SaharaReporters stated that Mr. Saraki and a group of Senators are scheming to pass the proposed amendment with a large enough majority to counter any trouble President Muhammadu Buhari would give to their attempt, including a veto.
This same source revealed that Mr. Saraki is aware of President Buhari’s declining popularity, amid the declining price of oil in global markets and slow pace of reforms, and that he would leverage his weakness to destroy his case in the CCT.
SaharaReporters has also learned that the Deputy Senate President Ike Ikweremadu oversaw the readings today instead of Mr. Saraki, which was an attempt to deceive the public into believing that Mr. Saraki was not directly invested in the outcome of the Senate’s activities.
When SaharaReporters contacted Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistance for Media and Publicity to the President, he said he was aware of the bill under review in the Senate but immediate comment on the bill would need to be directed to the Attorney General Abubakar Malami.
Mr. Malami did not return SaharaReporters' calls or texts by the time of publication.