• Providing legal advice and opinion to the Bureau.

• Liaising with the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on matters pertaining to the Bureau’s statutory duties, and review of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, and matters pertaining thereto.

• Attends Petition Screening Committee meetings.

• Prosecute public officers who contravene the code of conduct for public officers and defend all matters of interest to the Bureau.

• Vetting Agreements, Contracts and Memoranda of Association

• Performance of any other functions as may be directed by the Bureau.

The Legal Department has further filed charges against the following public officers€™ persons before the Code of Conduct Tribunal and hearing has already commenced on 11th €“ 13th September, 2012 and is now at different stages of proceedings at the Tribunal are  listed below:

(i)         F.R.N VS. EMIL LEMKE INYANG
(ii)         F.R.N VS. BARR. KECHUKWU OZOR
(iii)        F.R.N VS. RASHEED OWOLABI TAIWO
(iv)        F.R.N VS. MOHAMMED TUKUR ALIYU
(v)        F.R.N VS. ALIYU UMAR SANTURAKI
(vi)        F.R.N VS. DAUDA ASHIGYE
(vii)       F.R.N VS. DR. NATHANIEL OLAITAN ODEDIRAN
(viii)      F.R.N VS. DR. WILLIE O. SIYANBOLA

The Legal Department is drafting fresh charges against public officers who have defaulted in declaring their Assets from the following States and Organizations, namely:
(i)    Abia State
(ii)    Akwa Ibom State
(iii)    Bauchi State
(iv)    Bayelsa State
(v)    Borno State
(vi)    Cross River State
(vii)    Ebonyi State
(viii)    Enugu State
(ix)    Kano State
(x)    Katsina State
(xi)    Nassarawa State
(xii)    Rivers State
(xiii)    Nigerian Custom Service
(xiv)    Vehicle Inspection Office
(xv)    Independent Electoral Commission
(xvi)    Kwara  State
The charges in respect of the above listed states and establishments will be filed in January, 2013 when the Code of Conduct Tribunal Chairman and members resume from vacation.

The Legal Department attended the first Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting for the year from 17th -19th April, 2012. It prosecuted 172 public officers from Kwara and Kogi States charged for defaulting in declaring their Assets, as enshrined in Paragraph 11 of Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, at the sitting of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Lokoja, Kogi State. The public officers charged consist of staff of Nigerian Television Authority, Government House, Ilorin, Kwara State House of Assembly, Nigeria Police and staff of Local Government Councils from Kogi State. The table below shows summary of the proceedings that took place at the Tribunal sitting at Lokoja.

143 of the cases filed at the Tribunal from kwara state where struck out from the Tribunal because of absence of prosecution witness. Two public officers were convicted by the Tribunal and were asked to vacate their offices for a year. Twenty-three cases are still pending at the Tribunal.

The Tribunal sat at Jalingo, Taraba state and considered cases from 3 (three) states from the Northeast geopolitical zone of the country namely Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba states. Of the 116 (One Hundred and Sixteen) cases that were mentioned for hearing 7 were stuck out. 10 were acquitted. 11 of the public officers were deceased and two were convicted. 86 cases are pending before the Tribunal.
The table below is a summary of the cases tried at the Tribunal sitting at Jalingo.

The statistical Representation of all cases sent to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for year 2012 is thus: –