Merits, demerits of Code of Conduct Bureau under the Presidency

The operations of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) have been largely described by many as that of a toothless bulldog. This, according to lawyers, is attributable to its legal framework. Stakeholders believe that such legal frameworks give rise to weak institutions that are unable to discharge their statutory mandates effectively and efficiently.

They argued that the first fundamental error about the CCB is that its operation is placed under the presidency. As an investigative agency that has the mandate to investigate public officers, including the conduct of the president, it cannot be supervised by the same person, who it also has the responsibility to investigate. The popular view is that any investigative agency that performs quasi-judicial function ought to be under the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Legal analysts stressed that due to the importance of the Bureau, the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Chapter 58 LFN 1990 expressly empowers the Bureau to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality.

The legal experts argued that it is a measure of the importance attached to the Code of Conduct that the oath of office prescribed for the President (and State governors) in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution requires them to swear not only to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” but specifically to “abide by the Code of Conduct.”

They pointed out Section 11(1), which reads, “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter – (a) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.

“(2) Any statement in such a declaration that is found to be false by any authority or person authorised on that behalf to verify it shall be deemed to be a breach of this Code. (3) Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after any declaration required under this Constitution and which is not fairly attributable to income, gift, or loan approved by this Code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this Code unless the contrary is proved.

“13. A public officer who does any act prohibited by this Code through a nominee, trustee, or other agents shall be deemed ipso facto to have committed a breach of this Code.”

A Lagos-based lawyer, Paul Mgbeoma faults the idea of the CCB under the supervision of the presidency. He argued that the agency is just an instrument for vendetta in the hands of the presidency.

He said: “There’s hardly any meaningful impact they’re making. The only time they acted was when they were used to illegally remove a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria at the Tribunal. It’s a Bureau that doesn’t serve the interest of the public.

“When members file applications under the Freedom of Information Act, they reject them on flimsy grounds. The Bureau is just there as one of those institutions that are established by the Constitution.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Sylvanus Maliki reiterated that the CCB and Tribunal Act, Cap C15, LFN 2004, as spelt out in the 1999 Constitution, fifth schedule, Part 1, gives the Bureau the mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.

He pointed out that the Bureau’s investigative powers extend to the President, Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor, Minister of the Government of the Federation or Commissioner of the Government of the State, or any other public officer who holds the office of a Permanent Secretary or head of any public corporation, university, and other persons in the civil service.

He, however, said in situations where the Chairman of the CCB and members of the Bureau are all appointed by the President, one cannot expect any impactful performance.

“Can an organisation, which is under the direct purview of the President, operate freely in checking the activities of persons in the public service, including the President? Will the President be willing to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to be tried in the event that there are questions about his conduct and performance?

“Will such even get to the limelight before it is truncated? When a President has an interest in a particular case being investigated or tried, would he not just summon his appointee and make orders pleasing to him?” He asked.

According to him, it will be difficult for such appointees of the President to act against the person that appointed them into office even in the face of governmental rascality.

This, he said, is why the CCB should be an independent organisation or one that operates under the judiciary, such that when persons in government, including the President, acts against the expected conduct of a person in public service, the fellow would be subjected to trial at the tribunal.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Douglas Pepe argued that having the CCB under the Presidency is an aberration. According to him, a body performing judicial and quasi-judicial functions should be placed under the Chief Justice of Nigeria or be made independent.

His words: “The situation where the CCB is under the presidency makes it liable to abuse by the executive arm of the government.”

The senior lawyer said the best and ideal situation is for CCB to be placed under CJN and given independence to operate.

Monday Ikpe, also a lawyer, agreed with Pepe that CCB ought to be independent and placed under the CJN for effective operation.

For Douglas Ogbankwa, there are no advantages in the code of conduct being under the Presidency and there is nowhere in the Constitution, which establishes the Bureau, where it is stated that the Code of Conduct Bureau should be under the Presidency.

According to the lawyer, there are, however, a plethora of disadvantages as it concerns the Code of Conduct Bureau being under the Presidency.

The lawyer said chief among the disadvantages of the Bureau being under the Presidency, is the lack of independence to operate without any affection or ill will. “The Bureau became one of the departments under the Presidency and it is caught up with the presidential red-tapism. However, had the Bureau been independent and self-functioning, it would have been able to interrogate and prosecute the varied number of petitions on infractions on codes of conduct in Nigeria,” he stressed.

Ogbankwa argued that the Bureau as it presently constituted, is comatose. He held that while some national commissioners are calling for the prosecution of culprits, the Chairman of the Bureau and others are indifferent to such a noble cause.

This, he stated, has culminated into a free for all infraction on codes of conduct for public officers in Nigeria. “Once again, such failure in our systems brings to the fore, the imperatives of developing strong institutions and not strong men,” he quipped.

He stressed that an independent Code of Conduct Bureau would operate on systems and not on the whims and caprices of individuals. “It is important for us to ensure that systems work and we protect the system to function properly, so that the system can protect us, even when we are not within the system,” he declared.