Following condemnations and criticisms from the public, including a<\/p>\n
petition to the United Nations, the Nigerian Senate has made a volte-face,
\nagreeing to stand-down the amendment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act.<\/p>\n
The controversial bill sponsored by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi is seeking
\namongst other things to whittle down the investigative powers of the Code
\nof Conduct Bureau, CCB, and the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.<\/p>\n
The introduction of the Bill has generated a lot of condemnation and
\ncriticism from the public.<\/p>\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), had petitioned
\nProfessor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and
\nHuman Rights asking him to request the National Assembly of Nigeria,
\nspecifically the Senate, to withdraw amendments to the CCB and CCT Act.<\/p>\n
SERAP said if the amendments are allowed to scale through, it would
\nseriously weaken the act, undermine the fight against corruption in the
\ncountry, exacerbate extreme poverty and violations of internationally
\nrecognised human rights.<\/p>\n
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) described the amendment as a legislative
\nambush capable of scuttling Senate President Bukola Saraki\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n
In a statement, entitled: \u201cA Dangerous Amendment\u201d by its President,
\nComrade Ayuba Wabba, the congress said Nigerians believed that the
\namendment was aimed at scuttling the trial.<\/p>\n
The NLC said while the intention of the Senate might be noble and in line
\nwith their legislative function, the timing of the amendment calls to
\nquestion the real intentions of the upper house.<\/p>\n
The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) urged the Senate to halt the
\ndesecration of the upper chamber of the National Assembly with the
\namendment.<\/p>\n
The TMG, in a statement in Abuja yesterday by its Chairman, Ibrahim
\nZikirullahi, said the amendment showed the level of desperation and the
\ndespicable extent to which legislators were willing to descend.<\/p>\n
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce confirmed on his twitter handle @benmurraybruce
\nthe decision of the Senate. He said \u201cToday, rising from our meeting, the
\nsenate has decided in one voice, to stand-down the amendment of the CCT
\nact.<\/p>\n
No official statement has been issued from the Senate on why it decided to
\nstand-down the Bill<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following condemnations and criticisms from the public, including a petition to the United Nations, the Nigerian Senate has made a volte-face, agreeing to stand-down the amendment of the Code of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n