Senate to CAC: Deregister Transparency Group over ‘Frivolous’ Petition against Buhari’s Appointees
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, directed the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission to deregistrar the Save The Soul Transparency & Eagle Eyes International Foundation for writing a frivolous petition against two nominees of President Muhammadu Buhari as members of the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, gave the order during the screening of the five nominees of the president as CCB members.
The nominees were Murtala A. Kankia from Katsina State to represent ( North West ),Zephaniah Ishaku Bulus from Nasarawa to represent (North Central) and Farouq Umar from Yobe State to represent (North East).
Others were Abdulsalam Taofiq Olawale from Ondo State to represent ( South West ) and Prof. Juwayriya Badamasiuy from Kogi State to represent (North Central )
Chief Research Officer of the Save The Soul Transparency & Eagle Eyes International Foundation, Dr. George Davidson, had petitioned the Senate and demanded the disqualification of Messrs Murtala Kankia and Zephaniah Ishaku Bulus.
The petitioner claimed that President Buhari nominated the two people despite the fact that they were not constitutionally qualified to hold the offices they were penciled in for.
Davidson specifically stated that the appointment of Kankia and Bulus would desecrated the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 156 (1a), which according to him, forbade a member of the CCB to belong to a political party.
He insisted that the two nominees should be disqualified because of their membership of a political party.
The committee, however, struck out the petition for lacking merit and substance.
“The petition is an affront against the President of Nigeria, because he is being accused of making appointments contrary to Nigeria’s constitution. The only statutory agency of the federal government that politicians could not be nominated as members, is the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“This petition is hereby struck out. The Save The Soul Transparency & Eagle Eyes International Foundation should write a letter of apology to the President and copy the Committee because this is an affront against the President.
“The letter must be written within seven days and must be published in three newspapers. Otherwise, their certificate of operation should be revoked by the Registrar General of the CAC because they are misleading Nigerians
“The Committee hereby rules that the nominees of the President as members of the Code of Conduct Bureau are qualified to be appointed. They have been cleared by the Inspector General of Police and we also found nothing against them,” the Senate panel stated.
