N44.5m fraud: Accusers stall probe of CCT chairman

Hearing on the N44.5m fraud allegation against the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, was stalled at the House of Representatives again on Wednesday.

It was the second time within one week that the hearing was stalled by the petitioners, Anti-Corruption Network.

The House Committee on Public Petitions, which is chaired by a lawmaker from Abia State, Mr. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, is handling the investigation.

At the first hearing date of December 3, Anti-Corruption Network failed to turn up, a development which forced the committee to adjourn the sitting to Wednesday.  However, Umar was present on December 3 and also appeared before the committee today.  But, as Nkem-Abonta called the case today, a representative of the petitioners, Mr. Olusegun Abeoran, rose to request another extension of time.  He claimed that the network’s brief was not ready and would take another one week for the document to get to the committee.  “We are asking for extension of time for the purpose that our brief is not ready.  “We will plead for one week to forward it to the committee,” he stated.  But, Nkem-Abonta said he took exceptions to the reasons given by Abeoran.  He reminded him that the accused CCT chairman was a busy judge and that the committee would not condone a situation whereby the judge was made to appear twice for a hearing the petitioners were not prepared to prosecute.