THE Federal High Court (FHC) sitting in Abuja has ordered the Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Danladi Umar to appear before a Senate committee probing him for alleged misconduct.
The Abuja FHC gave the order after dismissing a suit filed by the CCT chairman to stop the Senate from probing him over an assault on a security guard at Banex Plaza, Abuja.
The ICIR had reported how Umar assaulted a 22-year old security guard, Clement Sargwak, at Banex Plaza in Wuse 2, Abuja, on March 29, 2021.
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Sargwak, who works for Jul Reliable Security Guards, a private outfit, was allegedly manhandled by Umar when he approached the judge for inappropriately parking his vehicle at the plaza’s parking lot.
The Senate subsequently directed its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Privileges to probe the assault after it was brought out for debate in a petition by a lawmaker representing Plateau North Istifanus Gyang.
However, the probe was stalled after Umar approached the Abuja FHC to contest the power of the Senate committee to investigate him.
In the suit, Umar prayed the court to determine if the “lawmakers were not usurping the powers of the police and judiciary in initiating the probe”.
He specifically prayed the court to interpret if the “constitutional powers granted the Senate or the investigating committee covered public assaults and also if the functions were not exclusive to the police and the courts of law”.
In his judgement on Tuesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja FHC held that as a public officer administering law, the CCT chairman was answerable to the Senate on moral standards.
He ordered Umar to appear before the Senate and answer questions on a public petition brought against him by an aggrieved citizen.
The judge ruled that the case seeking to stop the probe by the Senate lacks merit.
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