The head of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Professor Mohammed Isah, has been accused of running the organisation as its sole administrator and of engaging in corruption by federal commissioners in the CCB.
The commissioners, who petitioned the Senate and the House of Representatives, said that the chairman unilaterally reassigned personnel without consulting the Board, in violation of the Act's requirements.
They claimed he bypassed the Bureau's approved organogram and pleaded with the National Assembly to step in immediately to prevent the Bureau from collapsing completely.
“In the petition, the commissioners said that the allowances and impress due to staff were not paid, alleging also that the cooperative money of the staff amounting to over N60 million could not be accounted for by the chairman.“According to them, Board members do not know how many petitions received by the Bureau as well as number of cases under investigation and cases charged to Code of Conduct Tribunal.
They further claimed that the chairman had suppressed high-profile cases that had been brought before the Bureau.
The petition, which newsmen were able to obtain, was dated August 29, 2022, and was signed by Dr. Emmanuel E. Attah, Professor Samuel F. Ogundare, Ehiozuwa J. Agbonayinma, Dr. Olayinka Balogun, CP, Retd, and Barrister Ben Umeano. It was addressed to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, Senator Patrick A According to reports, Sa'ad Abdullahi, the Majidadin of Gombe, resigned from his position due to the situation the chairman had started.
The petition, titled “Maladministration, non- functionality, Corruption and Collapse of Law and Order in the Code of Conduct Bureau, a call for an urgent intervention”, read, among others: “We, Federal Commissioners of the Code of Conduct Bureau, wish to bring the following to your attention for your urgent intervention in order to save the Bureau from total collapse. The chairman in contravention of the provisions of the Act, single-handedly transfers staff without reference to the Board and bypasses the Bureau members against the approved organogram of the Bureau. Section 3 of SOP states that “all funds of the CCB shall be under the full control and management of the Bureau. Members of the Bureau do not know anything about the budgeting, award of cots/procurement processes and every financial transaction in the Bureau. The chairman does not advertise the award of contracts as required by law.
”In order to cover up for his non-compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, the chairman fraudulently obtains a ‘Certificate of No Objection’ and alleges that the contracts in question are for security equipment. The so-called security equipment allegedly procured are not visible, while the internally generated revenues are uncounted for. Monies meant for monitoring, investigations, training, staff welfare have been diverted by the chairman for his personal use. Non implementation of approval level for federal commissioners, directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, head of divisions, sections and units.
”Allowances and impress due to staff are not paid, it is also worthy of note to bring to your attention that the cooperative money of the staff amounting to over N60 million cannot be accounted for by the chairman.”