Saraki accuses CCT of being bias

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has accused the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar of bias and has insisted that he cannot get justice under his chairmanship.
Saraki in a motion he filed against Umar, prayed that the CCT boss to disqualify himself from further participating in his trial on the alleged falsification.
In the motion on notice filed by Raphael Oluyede SAN, it was contended that the continued presence of Umar on the panel of Tribunal offended the provisions of Section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The constitutional provision prescribes that “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality”.
Saraki claimed that the unfolding events and the way his trial is being conducted by Umar, there is likelihood of bias from the chairman and as such he should withdraw himself from prosecuting him further.
The motion on notice was brought in pursuant of section 36(1) of the constitution of the 1999 Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the common law rule on likelihood of bias and the rules of natural justice.
The defendants in the motion on notice are Danladi Yakubu Umar and the second member of the Tribunal, Agwadza Williams Atedze.
In a 20 paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, Saraki was said to be standing trial before the CCT being presided over by Danladi Yakubu Umar.
The affidavit averred that the applicant had sought to enforce his fundamental right in suit number before a Federal High Court in Abuja on the ground that the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal cannot be guaranteed while Danlaidi Yakubu Umar presides over the trial of the applicant.
It also averred that Saraki is being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and that Umar as chairman of CCT is an object of investigation by the same EFCC on corrupt practices.
The affidavit also claimed that by his conduct in the proceedings, the CCT boss had allegedly proved to be a willing tool in the hand of the executive arm of the government which was responsible for his appointment and particularly as he (Umar) was himself under investigation for corruption by EFCC.
The affidavit deposed to by Paul Akase claimed that neither the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) nor the EFCC or Umar has ever denied that the CCT boss was under investigation.
The affidavit further stated that the EFCC’s usurpation of CCB’s power had been admitted by the AGF in previous court actions instituted by Saraki against the AGF, EFCC, Umar and other defendants.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the motion.

Power sector regulatory agencies can hold operators accountable for service delivery- Fashola
The Minister of Powe, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola SAN, yesterday reiterated the determination of the Ministry to hold power sector operators accountable to service commitments through its regulatory agencies, even as he enumerated the benefits of the Multi-Year Tariff Order to Consumers.

Fashola, who spoke at the Mabushi Headquarters of the Ministry while hosting the Director General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoki, also promised to raise standards in the Housing Sector saying the Housing Ministry would ensure that when a house is built either by government or private investors “it stays built”.

The Minister said although the role of his ministry is not to take sides, the new tariff regime has been made to protect the consumer as the Ministry ensures that DisCos and GenCos perform their responsibilities well and that they are held to their service levels adding that the Ministry also stands between them and consumers to ensure that they do not profiteer against consumers.

He told the Director General, “I think that this last tariff seeks to achieve much for consumers in my opinion and I will tell you why, people were complaining about fixed charge and people were saying why will they take my money; but this last tariff stopped fixed charge, that’s a consumer sensitive charge”.

“What the last tariff also did was to say how do we stand to address the metering gap between the consumers and the DisCos. It also tried to address the issue of estimated billing so that if you dispute your last bill because you don’t have a meter you cannot refuse to pay, pay what you believe you have consumed and you cannot be disconnected”, the Minister said.

According to Fashola, the onus is on the DisCos to prove that a consumer has used the power they seek payment for and they cannot prove that the consumer used power without measuring it “and they cannot measure the power without metering it and this was a way to incentivize metering”. He noted, however, that consumers seem not to fully understand the benefits of the tariff hence the present controversy.

Elucidating more on the reason for the new tariff, the Minister, who maintained that it is more friendly for the consumers ultimately added that it also sought to balance the interest of the DisCos because, according to him, “You cannot sell below your production price and if the price of gas has gone up for instance you must factor that into your price”.

Still on the benefits of the new tariff, the Minister who noted that 5000MW was not enough for over 100 million people added, “ We cannot improve on quality without having more power and one of the things that this tariff seeks to address is that private organizations can provide power and this is to ensure that if anyone who wants to pay for premium power can leave the public power space for people who want to stay there”.

“The law provides for it so you can leave the pay-as-you-go for the premium power. These are some of the consumer beneficial deliveries that is involved and I think I can’t begrudge people this and there is a lot of emotions”, he said.

Also identifying the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Initiative (CAPMI) as one of the challenges that should be resolved soon , the Minister said, “you cannot take peoples’ money without providing the service for which they have paid. I was uncomfortable with that”.

He said the Ministry has ordered that that scheme be wound down so that people could get what they have paid for adding that it is the responsibility of the DisCos’ to provide meters for their consumers and so wind down what they have collected.