The lawmakers approve the motion to remove the CCT Chairman without meeting the constitutional requirement.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday resolved to ask President Bola Tinubu to remove the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Umar Danladi, from office.
However, the motion succeeded without the lawmakers meeting the constitutional threshold.
The decision followed a motion moved by the House Majority Leader, Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo), who cited Section 17(3) of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution.
According to Section 17(3):
"A person holding the office of the Chairman or member of the Code of Conduct Tribunal shall not be removed from his office or appointment by the President except upon an address supported by two-thirds majority of each House of the National Assembly praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office in question, whether arising from infirmity of mind or body, misconduct, or contradiction of the code."
Despite the constitutional requirement that Mr Danladi can only be removed by a two-thirds majority of the 360 members of the House, the resolution was passed with fewer than 150 members present.
A two-thirds majority of the House requires at least 240 members. However, shortly before the motion was taken, PREMIUM TIMES conducted a headcount of members on the floor and found only 92 lawmakers present. Even if a margin of error is allowed, the number of lawmakers present fell far short of the constitutional requirement.
Last week, the Senate also recommended Mr Danladi's removal, with 84 senators voting in support of a motion moved by Opeyemi Bamidele, the majority leader. At least 73 senators would have been required to approve the motion based on the two-thirds rule.
Mr Bamidele, a lawyer, relied on Section 157(2) to convince his colleagues to support the motion for Mr Danladi's removal, instead of adhering to the process outlined in Section 17(3) of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution.
However, the Senate on Tuesday corrected its error by citing the appropriate laws to call for Mr Danladi's removal.
Ignoring Constitutional Procedure
To remove the CCT Chairman, President Bola Tinubu needs the 2/3 approval of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
When the Senate reached its resolution last week, over 84 senators were present during the deliberation. They unanimously passed the resolution, thus securing more than the 73 votes required.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
However, unlike the Senate, the House of Representatives fell short of the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority.
The Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, did not initiate a headcount to determine whether the House met the constitutional threshold.
Mr Tajudeen acknowledged concerns regarding the two-thirds majority requirement when Mansur Soro (PDP, Bauchi) raised a constitutional point of order. However, the speaker's comments on the two-thirds requirement were largely incoherent.
He said the House would respect the "bipartisan" effort of the Senate, adding that the lower chamber was merely concurring with the decision of the former.
"...the Senate has already taken action on this subject matter, and ours is just concurrence. We are properly guided on the provision of [the] two-thirds provision, which I am sure that irrespective of the president's directive, as well as the position already taken on by a partisan basis (sic) by the Senate should be respected by this hallow chamber," Mr Tajudeen said.
He subsequently proceeded to put the motion to a voice vote without attempting to establish the number of lawmakers present.
