From last week continues the enumeration of the 15 codes which a public officer must adhere to as recommended by the  Professor Ben Nwabueze sub-committee on National Objectives and Public Accountability of the Constitution Drafting Committee  

A LEADER who holds a position as President or Vice-President of the Republic, minister, permanent secretary or head of any public corporation, university, or other parastatal organization shall not accept: (a) a loan except from a bank, building society or other financial institution; (b) any benefit of whatever nature from any company, contractor, business or their nominee or agent.

No person shall offer the leader any property, gift or benefit of any kind as an inducement or bribe for the granting of any favour or the discharge in his favour of the leader’s duties; a leader shall not do or direct to be done in abusive of his office, any arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of any other person; a leader shall not put to his personal advantage or to the advantage of any other person materially or otherwise any information acquired by him during his term of office as a leader; a leader shall not be a member of, belong to, or take part in the organisation or management of the Ogboni or Owegbe societies or any other secret society of a similar nature. 

Every leader shall: (a) within three months after the coming into force of the code or after taking office, as the case may be, (b) at the end of each year (c) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau of the Government which employs him, a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed to him, his spouse or unmarried children under the age of 21; any false information in such declarations shall be deemed to be breached of this code; any property or asset acquired by a leader after the initial declaration required by paragraph 13 (1) (a) above and which is not fairly attributable to income, gift, or loan approved in this Code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this Code unless the contrary is proved.

An allegation that a leader has committed a breach of or has not complied with the provisions of this Code shall be made to the Code of Conduct Bureau, which shall, unless the person concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, cause the matter to be heard and determined by the tribunal referred to in Article of the Constitution.

A leader who does any act prohibited by this Code through a nominee, trustee, or other agent shall be deemed ipso facto to have committed a breach of this Code. 

By virtue of his being the Chairman of the subcommittee, Professor Nwabueze automatically became a member of the Constituent Assembly. Other chairmen of subcommittees that became automatic members of the Constituent Assembly were Alhaji A.G.F. Abdul-Rasaq (sub-committee on the executive and the legislature); Alhaji Nuhu Bamali (sub-committee on the judicial system); Dr. Pius Okigbo (sub-committee on economy, finance and division of powers); Alhaji Aminu Kano (sub-committee on citizenship, citizenship rights, fundamental rights, political parties and electoral laws); Dr. Obi Wali (sub-committee on the public service including the Armed Forces and the Police); and Chief F.R.A. Williams (Legal Drafting sub-committee). 

On November 1, 1977, Professor Nwabueze was appointed the chairman of the business of the Constituent Assembly. Other members of the business committee were Alhaji Abdul Razak, Dr. Pius Okigbo, Chief Olu Awotesu, Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe, Chief Samuel O. Mbakwe, Mr. D.G. Vembeh, Chief Frank N. Inok, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Alhaji Shehu Malami, Dr, Iya Abubakar, Dr. Mudiaga Odje and Dr. F.O. Nwator.  

From October 6, 1977, when the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, inaugurated the Constituent Assembly, till the assembly adjourned sine die in March 1978, Professor Nwabueze sat next to Chief Rotimi Williams. The two were inseparable. Inspite of his later years pronouncements on political issues, Professor Nwabueze, should be judged on the preamble of the report of the sub-committee on National Objectives and Public Accountability of the Constitutional Drafting Committee which he co-authored in 1975. That preamble was his legacy. The preamble defined Professor Nwabueze.

 In the preamble, he wrote: “Government in Nigeria, as indeed in other developing countries, has tended to be pre-occupied with power and its material perquisites. Given the country’s conditions of under-development, power offers the opportunity of a lifetime to rise above the general poverty and squalor that pervades the entire society. It provides a rare opportunity to acquire wealth and prestige, to be able to distribute benefits in the form of jobs, contracts, scholarships and gifts of money and so on to ones’s relatives, and political allies. Such is the pre-occupation with power and its material benefits that political ideologies as to how society can be organised and ruled to the best advantage of all hardly enter into the calculation.” 

To be concluded