*As commissioners allege blockage of investigation into N109bn AGF’s loot
Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), created to fight institutional corruption through the scrutiny of assets declaration forms of civil/public service officers, is itself, enmeshed in a series of crises.
The revelation about the alleged corrupt practices perpetrated by its chairman, Mohammed Isah, was exposed by the six federal commissioners running the anti-graft agency with him, through petitions submitted to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
The Commissioners, led by Emmanuel Attah, had, in the jointly signed petition, alleged that the embattled chairman had within the last four years been blocking investigations on petitions made against public officers with multi-million and billion naira assets, not stated in their assets declaration forms.
On the strength of the allegations, the CCB chairman was to appear before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions last Friday, but was absent, while five of the six commissioners were present.
The absence of the CCB chairman, however, made the Chairman of the committee, Ayo Akinyelure, with the consent of other members, to direct the absentee chairman to appear before them unfailingly on Thursday.
He said: “The petition before this committee on allegations against the CCB chairman bordering on corrupt practices is worrisome and he must be here to defend himself. The seriousness of the matter lies on the fact that the petitioners are even the six federal commissioners appointed to be working with him in the fight against corruption.
“The commissioners are here but the chairman who is in the eye of the storm is not here. We have gone through all the issues raised in the jointly signed petition by the commissioners and they are very disturbing if eventually proven.
“Therefore, for fair hearing, we are re-inviting the chairman to appear before this committee on Thursday, October 6, 2022 unfailingly by 2:00pm for require response or responses from him on all allegations levelled against him in the petition.”
Speaking to newsmen after the adjourned session, one of the commissioners, Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, along with others, said they petitioned the chairman to save CCB from self-inflicted incapacitation slammed on it by the chairman.
According to him, all the commissioners and the chairman, were appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to help in the war against corruption within the public service itself, at all levels.
“The chairman based on his conducts, is not ready to fight the war in anyway, but sabotage it by sitting on series of petitions written against corrupt public officers whose assets far outweighs what were declared in the assets declaration forms.
“The N109 billion loot linked to the now being investigated Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, was first reported to CCB through petitions, but prevented from being acted upon by the chairman.
“We are ever ready to support Mr. President’s war against corruption, but very disturbed by the frustration being thrown into it in CCB by no less a person, than the chairman.
“We have written petitions against him as declared by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions here today and want him to meet us face to face before members of the committee for whatever defence he wants to make.
“Corruption must be killed in Nigeria before it kills us and anybody not ready to join in the fight or war against it, should be shown the way out of public service, particularly those saddled with responsibilities of curbing corrupt practices in the country like CCB,” he said.
