According to documents obtained by SaharaReporters, Zainab Aliyu was appointed as an Administrative Officer II on Grade Level 08, Step 2, with an appointment letter dated June 16, 2025, and referenced CCT/HQ/837/P/1.
The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mainasara Umar Kogo, has been accused of multiple cases of misconduct, abuse of office, and administrative irregularities, a few months after his appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
SaharaReporters exclusively obtained several documents relating to a series of alleged gross misconduct and flagrant violations of the tribunal’s established rules and code of conduct for judicial officers.
Mainasara was appointed CCT Chairman on November 27, 2024, following the removal of the controversial former Chairman, Danladi Umar, over alleged gross misconduct by the Senate.
Alleged Alteration of Tribunal Rulings
In a confidential memo dated March 6, 2026, addressed to President Tinubu and obtained by SaharaReporters, aggrieved staff members of the Tribunal accused Kogo of altering and modifying decisions agreed upon by the three-man panel during open court proceedings.
They alleged that many rulings were later changed by the CCT Chairman, with additional insertions made after the court proceedings, allegedly due to ex parte communications between his aides and defendants with vested legal interests in the cases, without any transparent legal justification.
However, SaharaReporters could not independently establish the allegation of Kogo’s alteration of the ruling of the three-man panel of the Tribunal at the time of filing this report.
Nepotism, Federal Character Violations Alleged
The memo also accused Kogo of breaching federal character principles by employing over 85% of staff members from his region and close allies.
He was also quoted as allegedly stating that no man or woman from his region would be sanctioned during his tenure, either administratively or in court.
He was further accused of nepotism, having employed his wife, Zainab Aliyu, his wife’s sister and his brothers, including Mainasara Abdulhamid, respectively.
Controversial Appointment of Wife, Salary Concerns
According to documents obtained by SaharaReporters, Zainab Aliyu was appointed as an Administrative Officer II on Grade Level 08, Step 2, with an appointment letter dated June 16, 2025, and referenced CCT/HQ/837/P/1.
She was placed on an initial annual consolidated salary of ₦1,512,756.00, with the appointment taking effect from July 1, 2025. Copies of her pay slips were also obtained.
According to sources, the CCT Chairman told staff members that the appointment of his wife was no longer valid.
“He instructed his Director, Finance and Accounts, to tell the staff members at the headquarters that he had asked his wife to resign,” a staff member said.
According to the staff, since her appointment, Zainab has never been physically present at the office, yet she has continued to receive her salary for over nine months now.
Threats, Intimidation and Staff Complaints
Meanwhile, the CCT Chairman has allegedly threatened to dismiss any staff member who fails to report to work.
Part of the memo reads, “At the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Chairman, Justice Mainasara Umar Kogo, as a judicial officer, owes Nigeria the duty to strictly adhere to the rules set out in the Code. Non-observance of these rules constitutes misconduct or misbehaviour. However, he has continuously failed and/or deliberately neglected to abide by the established Code.”
The Chairman, on October 20, 2025, allegedly used official CCT letterhead to request leave of absence to handle a higher national assignment while retaining job security at the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE). To conceal this, he allegedly processed the correspondence at a business centre.
He was accused of singlehandedly awarding contracts without due adherence to extant rules and financial regulations.
Controversial Appointment of Finance Director Under Investigation
He also allegedly violated code of ethics by appointing one Mr Francis Ogar as Director of Finance and Accounts despite the fact that he (Ogar) was under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged illegal sale of CCT cooperative land in 2024.
It is alleged to be on record that Kogo has continued to keep Ogar as the DFA despite a comprehensive report from the EFCC dated April 28, 2025, stating the gravity of the case and calls from the concerned members of staff and memos from the two members {of the Tribunal} that Ogar should be suspended. As of the time of filing this report, Ogar is said to still work as the DFA.
Kogo was further accused of creation of departments without approval from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation; non-allocation of official vehicles to directors; improper allocation of office spaces; refusal to refund out-of-pocket expenses to schedule officers who incurred expenditures from their own pockets for the smooth running of the office, undue.
He was also accused of unlawful appointment of aides and use of abusive language towards directors, and loss of official and sensitive files.
Missing Files Trigger ‘State of Emergency’ Memo
In confirmation of the reported disappearance of official and sensitive files, the Chief Registrar’s Office, in an internal memo dated February 24, 2026, and signed by Viana Yakubu, directed all heads of departments, unit heads, and staff of the Tribunal to conduct a thorough search of their offices for the missing documents.
The memo titled, ‘State of Emergency on Missing or Untraceable Official Files’, read, “I write to request all Heads of Departments/Units Heads and the entire staff of CCT to kindly ransack their respective tables, drawers and cabinets to see if there is/are any official file that belong to the Secret Registry/Records Unit in any such event to kindly return them to Records/Secret Registry for record purposes before taking them to your respective offices.
“Furthermore, most of the files that are supposed to be in the Secret Registry Unit are nowhere to be found and the staff have been going up and down searching for those files to no avail.
“For example, for over 6 months now to be precise, staff of the Chief Registrar’s Office have been looking for some files such as ‘Salaries and Wages Commission file; Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation file etc.’ but up till now those files have not been found.
“Please search your office/drawer to ascertain if you might have forgotten any of the files inside your cabinets.”
In a separate memo dated January 19, 2026, signed by the Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) and the Secretary, addressed to the Tribunal’s Board, concerns were raised over the non-allocation of official vehicles to directors.
The association noted that the vehicles remain unused despite public funds spent on their maintenance, leading to depreciation, while directors lack official transportation, placing them at a disadvantage during official engagements.
At the time of writing the memo, it was alleged that some of the vehicles had disappeared from the parking lot.
One of the vehicles previously assigned to the then Director of PRS, bearing plate number CCT 05, is reportedly now being used by Idris, a level 6 officer. In addition, a brown Toyota Camry was taken out but returned a few days later.
One of the white Toyota Corolla cars that is meant to be given as an official car to the directors has allegedly been taken to an unknown destination.
An insider source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told SaharaReporters, “We have up to four cars on the ground for directors, but rather than sharing them with those directors without cars, he chose to hand them over to his son and the boys he employed.
“Most times, he used to withdraw staff buses from the routes and give his wife, a junior staff member, to travel with it. It’s also on record that the official cars that were given to some of the directors were given by Dalandi, the former Chairman.”
The ASCSN also challenged the CCT Chairman over the alleged unlawful appointment of 20 aides, including Senior Assistants and Personal Assistants, despite claims that their appointments had been terminated.
The circular banning him from such illegal appointments was given to him for guidance, but he has allegedly refused to adhere to it.
One of his aides, Mallam Sanusi, a non-staff member of the Tribunal, now allegedly parks his car at the director’s space.
The aggrieved staff members called on President Tinubu to initiate an immediate review of the leadership of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, warning that continued violations could erode public trust in the institution and undermine judicial accountability.
“He has continuously failed and/or deliberately neglected to abide by the established Code. If not urgently addressed, the consequences could affect both the Tribunal and the broader constitutional and political landscape,” the memo stressed.
Efforts by SaharaReporters to reach the Chairman of the Tribunal for reaction to the allegations levelled against were unsuccessful as his mobile phone was switched off.
The Director of Media and Protocol of the tribunal, identified as Mr. Kachalla, could not be reached for comments when contacted through his mobile phone.
Lawrence, one of the aides to the Chairman, when contacted, stated that he was not the appropriate person to comment on the matter, as he is not the Tribunal’s media representative.
He therefore advised the reporter to visit the office of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja to meet the Chairman in person and direct the questions accordingly.
Source: Sahara Reporters