Remove Acting CCB boss from office now, group writes SGF

By Bayo Davids
A pro-good governance group, Advocacy for Good Ethics and Accountability for Development has called on Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to immediately reverse what it called the illegal appointment of Murtala Kankai, as Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau.
In a letter addressed cited by Pointblanknews.com to the SGF signed by Greg Ukaigwe, Interim Secretary of the Organization, the group pointed out what it described as an illegal appointment made in the twilight of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The letter reads in part, “The erstwhile Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr. Mohammed Isah’s tenure expired on the 7th of November, 2023, and he was statutory supposed to hand-over the reigns of affairs of the code of conduct Bureau to the most senior director in the service of CCB. But in a most strange manner, Mr. Isah flagrantly refused to hand-over as clearly stipulated by the extant law and but rather in gross violation of the law, the same Mr. Isah chose to hand-over to his stooge, and already resigned mere board member, Mr. Murtala Kankai.
“Going forward, sir, Mr. Kankai, a board member who was appointed alongside with the erstwhile Chairman by President Muhammadu Buhari, to superintend the affairs of CCB had their respective tenure expired on the 7th of November, 2023. Going by the above impunity and gross abuse of office, the said Mr. Kankai had sometime in April, 2023, formally resigned his appointment with the governing board of CCB to participate in the 2023 general elections into the House of Representatives.  Most unfortunately for Mr. Kankai, he woefully lost in the election.”
The group noted that two months after his failed electioneering bid, Kankai staged a comeback to chair the governing board of CCB in criminal connivance with former Attorney General of the Federatrion, Abubakar Malami and other power brokers in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
“In the foregoing, the fundamental reason the erstwhile Chairman, Mohammed Isah had to surreptitiously mastermind Mr. Kankal’s re- appointment into the board he had earlier resigned from was for this Mr. Kankai to cover his shady deals and gross mismanagement of CCB resources just in case this present administration does not grant him a renewed tenure.
“It is on record that three board members of CCB did resign from the board to seek election amongst whom are Engr. Saidi Mr. Okpanachi Mr. Murtala Kankai and it is important to state that the two mentioned board members were not re-absorbed as board members
“It is therefore a mystery that Mr. Kankai found his way back into the board of CCB as a governing board member. How possible would this have been if not for the erstwhile chairman’s ulterior motives aimed at shielding himself from public scrutiny and accountability?” it added.