Not many people knew how powerful the Code of Conduct Bureau was until the former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen was arm-twisted into resigning by the Code of Conduct Tribunal after the Bureau had done a hatchet job indicting him. Professor Mohammed Isa, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau was in charge during the period. And after the job was done, the Bureau went into coma. Unknown to many, there were a lot of corrupt practices happening behind the scene, while the chairman and his faction were smiling to the banks. According to investigations by our Afrimarknews, the erstwhile Chairman Professor Isa decided to change the official process of investigating cases. Instead, he used his own team of secrete private investigators tagged “task force” to carry out his bidding.
These guys investigated cases of top echelon of government officials, and once they concluded, gave him reports and based on the reports, guilty public officers were billed millions of dollars and after payment, these cases die naturally. These were happening against the conventional way of treating cases and petitions. Normally, the standard is that all petitions addressed to the Chairman are minuted to the Director of investigation who after carrying out the investigation with his team forward the report to the Director of Legal Services who in turn will send his findings to the Chairman for formal endorsement and transfer to the Tribunal for prosecution. But the erstwhile Chairman circumvented the entire process for personal gains. According to our source, this was why, all through his four years tenure in office he could not recommend any major case to the Tribunal for prosecution.
In the Board of the Bureau Isa had a few guys who worked with him. One of which was Murtala Kankia from Katsina state. Kankia was Isa’s starboard man. Late in 2022, Kankia and two others resigned from the Board of the Conduct Bureau to contest for elective posts of which they all lost.
After failing in the primaries, Isa and Kankia presumed that there is very slim chance of the Chairman being appointed by Tinubu for second term. He had failed the then President-elect, who wanted to use the current Minister of Aviation Mr. Festus Keyamo to prosecute Atiku but Isa and his team made a mess of the petition. Based on the foregoing, out of the three who went to contest and lost, Malami quickly arranged Isa Kankia alone, to be reappointed as board members. At the expiration of Mr. Mohammed Isa at the expiration of his term in November 7th 2023 he clandestinely handed over to Murtala Kankia, his right-hand man, with the expectation that the later would be able to cover up his tracks instead of handing over to Barrister Benedict Umeano who was the most senior officer.
Our sources also gathered that when he handed over, more than 2,000 files of investigated public officers were returned to the office. The reason these top politicians and many heads of government agencies whose cases were believed to have been investigated inconspicuously were not prosecuted is left for you and I to guess. Workers and others who are aware of what transpired between Isa and Kankia were quick to raise alarm that the latter could not have been the acting Chairman unless government want to kill the Bureau. By rank, he wasn’t the next in command to the outgone Chairman. The next and most qualified senior official according to our source, is Benedict Umeano in accordance with the civil service guidelines which specified that the most senior director should be the one to take over.
After Kankia was hurriedly smuggled back into the Board while he had resigned, he was placed above the chairman’s position because they brought him back for the purpose. Meanwhile, Hon. Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma a former Reps member and a member of the Board who had earlier taken the ineptitude and corruption of the erstwhile Chairman to the appropriate committee in the National Assembly, in the verge to secure the Chairmanship post rushed to the Press to announcing that President Bola Tinubu has appointed him as the new helmsman of the Bureau.
“If Kankia or Hon. Agbonayinma are allowed to lead the Bureau, the President will lose a major platform for fighting the war against corruption and abuse of office reason being that they are not qualified to lead the CCB by virtue of their antecedent” insider warns.
The reappointment of Kankia back to the Board after himself and two others after stepping aside to contest elective posts was to cover up the many atrocities committed by their former Chairman, Mohammed Isa, and by implication, Malami’s stooge as the Chairman. If this is allowed then, it will be a death warrant on the Bureau.
