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FORMER CCT CHAIRMAN, DANLADI UMAR, UNCEREMONIOUSLY REMOVED FROM OFFICE
Karma visits CCT Chair, Danladi Umar
Four years after the Code of Conduct Tribunal convicted the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter S. N. Onnoghen for breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers and had him removed as CJN in flagrant disregard to constitutional provisions, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last week replaced Umar with Dr Mainasara Umar Kago.
Lawyers have since described the announcement as a breach of constitutional provisions. Condemning his removal, a former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Bayero University Kano, Prof. Mamman Lawan-Yusufari, said his removal ignored relevant provisions of the constitution which provides that the holder of that office can only leave office at 70 years. Umar is 53 years old.
In 2019, without determining whether it had jurisdiction over Justice Onnoghen as required by law, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) headed by Danladi Umar proceeded to give an illegal order purporting to suspend the then CJN from office.
The enrolled order signed by the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Hon. Danladi Y. Umar, and one other member of the Tribunal (Hon. Mrs. Julie A. Anabor), purported to direct Hon. Justice Onnoghen to ‘’step aside’’ as the CJN and Chairman of the NJC pending the determination of the Motion on Notice dated the 10th day of January, 2019.
On the face of the said order, the name of the legal practitioner who moved the motion ex-parte is not stated.
This is notwithstanding that the Constitution has explicitly stated the procedure for the appointment and removal of the CJN which no court, tribunal, president or other authority or person in Nigeria can derogate from, override or alter the said procedure.
On the Danladi Umar question, Prof. Lawan-Yusufari noted that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that the Chairman and Members of the CCT are appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which receives advice from the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
According to him, the constitution also stipulates that the president can only remove the chairman and members upon an address supported by a two-thirds majority of each House of the National Assembly and only on the grounds of inability to discharge functions. They must also vacate office upon attaining 70 years.
The professor stressed that the stringent provisions on appointment and removal are rooted in the sensitivity of the offices, ensuring effective public service delivery, good governance, national development, peace, and security.
On his part, Ikoro N. Ikoro, Esq remarked that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is the grundnorm and its provisions prevail over every authority in Nigeria including the office of the CCT chairman.
“The constitution provides that in the removal of the CCT chairman, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must make the announcement after an approval of 2/3 majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives,” he said
“There is a reason for the stringent provision of the law in the removal of the CCT chairman by a president; it is because the position is sensitive and it is the body charged with checkmating illicit acquisition of wealth by officials of state.
“There is a mandatory requirement of termination of appointment at the age of 70. He is still 53 or so years old. So age could not have been a factor. There is no doubt that there was a call for the man to be sacked after a slap incident in Abuja or how he treated the retired Onnoghen, CJN, but after that event he was not sacked. Therefore, Government is required to go through the right channels to make sure that the trust embedded in that office is maintained if he must be removed,” he added.
Likewise, E. M. D. Umukoro Esq pointed out that the provisions for the removal of the CCT chairman as provided by the constitution requires an address and two-third majorly of members of both chambers of the National Assembly adding that the chairman or members of the CCT have not violated the law, they enjoy tenure of office and cannot be removed arbitrarily.
“If the chairman or any of the members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal has been removed from office, outside the provisions of the law, he has right to seek redress under the law,” he said
