CCT Chairman seeks to stop Senate from probing him on alleged assault

By Matthew Eloyi

Danladi Umar, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), petitioned a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday to stop the Senate from investigating him for alleged assault and public misconduct.

The Senate, Senate President, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF are the four defendants in the case.

The CCT Chairman is disputing the Senate’s authority to probe him in connection with an alleged assault on a security guard at Banex Plaza in Abuja.

He is also asking the court for a perpetual injunction barring the Senate, its members, and agents from conducting further investigations into the assault accusations lodged against him in a petition filed with the Senate.

The plaintiff specifically requests that the court assess whether the alleged assault that occurred at Banex Plaza in Abuja on March 29, 2021, falls within the scope of the Senate’s constitutional authority to investigate.

He also asked the court to determine whether the Senate and its Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions are competent to investigate or invite him in relation to the investigation of the allegation of assault brought against him and whether the powers of the Senate to conduct the investigation are not governed or subject to the provision of sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.

The plaintiff, therefore, wants the court to declare that the purported case of assault which took place on March 29, 2021, did not form part of the matters the Senate is constitutionally empowered to investigate.

He further asked the court to declare that the Senate’s move to conduct an investigation in the matter is unconstitutional and amounts to unwarranted usurpation of the functions of the police and of the court of competent jurisdiction.

At the day’s proceedings, Umar’s counsel asked Justice Ekwo to grant all the reliefs sought by his client and restrain the defendants from causing his investigation.

However, counsel to the Senate, Kafayat Suleyman urged the court to dismiss the suit insisting that the Senate has the power under section 88 of the Constitution to investigate alleged misconduct by any public officer.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, therefore, fixed April 26 for judgment in the suit after Danladi and the four defendants in the matter adopted their final processes.