Tougher times await politicians, especially the corrupt ones as the Code of Conduct Bureau has vowed to put a stop to their ambition of participating in the 2011 general elections, SUNDAY PUNCH has gathered.

Already, the bureau, it was learnt, has begun the compilation of a list of public office-holders believed to have compromised the code of ethics governing their offices.

The list, it was also gathered, would be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as a guide to check the quality of aspirants for the election.

It will similarly contain names of past and present government officials who have indicated interests to run for elections but are found wanting in character and conduct.

The Chairman of the CCB board, Mr. Sam Saba, who confirmed the bureau‘s fresh moves to stop questionable candidates in the forthcoming poll to our correspondent, said it would no longer be business as usual.

He said, ”In this dispensation, as we approach the electoral period, only officers who are transparent, honest and who have matched integrity with action will be recommended for elective offices. You cannot be a person who is not law abiding and now want to contest elections overnight.

”We are going to look into our records. If you are a public officer, while you are in office, have you declared your assets? If you have declared, when did you declare? Were you truthful and honest in filling the forms? If you are not, your names will be among the names that will be forwarded to INEC so that INEC will know what to do with them.”

While confirming that the list would soon be ready, he added, ”All governors, all deputies, and all members of the legislature that are due for elections and local government chairmen will be verified.”

Specifically, our correspondent gathered that the names of governors and their deputies, members of both state and national assemblies, special advisers, former military administrators and local government chairmen who are aspiring for positions in 2011 will be included in the list. Persons who had held or are holding public offices but failed to declare their assets before and after such offices are also said to be in the list.

Those whose names are being documented are said to have contravened the code of conduct for public officials stipulated in the Fifth Schedule, Part One of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

To be included are those who lied while filling their assets declaration forms, public officials who are operating foreign accounts and those who are currently being investigated for money laundering.

The EFFC has also confirmed that it was liaising with the bureau to frustrate corrupt politicians from seeking elective positions in the next year‘s poll.

The commission‘s Head of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, said, ”You know that the CCB has the constitutional power to ban some people from contesting. This is why we are collaborating with it.”

The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 1990, gave the bureau the mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standard of public morality and accountability.

The Act also empowers the bureau in Section Seven to remove erring officers from their positions and to disqualify persons found guilty of contravening the code from holding certain elective positions.

Our correspondent gathered that the bureau through its department of investigation and monitoring, had been compiling complaints from members of the public, of breaches of the code of conduct by public officers.

Such breaches include indiscipline, abuse of office, lack of accountability, corruption and unethical conduct in government business.




http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100905222042

only the courts can pronounce an individual unfit for elections

There is a subsisting Supreme Court Judgement on that: Atiku vs OBJ/INEC. So these guys should kindly not waste our time.