President Muhammadu Buhari has ignored the recommendation of his
transition committee to publicly declare his assets immediately after
assuming office, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.
As part of quick wins for the administration, the Ahmed Joda-led
committee recommended that the President should immediately after
assumption of office declare his assets publicly.
It also recommended prompt prosecution of pending cases and the
publication of the audited financial statements of the Federal
Government.
Other recommendations include the recovery of stolen funds, review
and reforms in government waivers and tax exemptions as well as
non-conviction based forfeiture by legislations.
But more than a month after he was sworn in, Mr. Buhari has not made his assets and so is his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo.
The President’s refusal to disclose the report of his asset
declaration is a clear negation of the promise of his party, the All
Progressives Congress, that unlike former President Goodluck Jonathan,
their presidential candidate, Mr. Buhari would publish his assets if
elected into office.
While campaigning across the country, the APC had assured Nigerians
that Mr. Buhari would publicly declare his assets and liabilities
immediately after assumption of office.
“General Muhammadu Buhari believes sincerely that no matter how vast
our resources, if they are not efficiently utilized, they will only
benefit a privileged few, leaving the majority in abject poverty. This
he wants to avoid by all lawful means,” a member of the party’s
presidential campaign council, Osita Okechukwu, had said during a
pro-Buhari road show in Enugu.
“To achieve this he publicly will declare his assets and liabilities
and encourage his political appointees to follow suit immediately he is
sworn-in.”
Two days after he was sworn in as president and Commander in-Chief of
the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project, SERAP, urged him and Mr. Osinbajo to promptly
make public the details of their declared assets.
The group said the public declaration of their assets would be
consistent with Messrs Buhari and Osinbajo’s anti-corruption credentials
and their promises to the electorate.
The request was made immediately after the two leaders declared their
assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau as required by the Constitution.
“We welcome the official declaration of assets by the president and
the vice-president. This clearly complies with the requirements of the
Nigerian Constitution as contained in Chapter 6 Section 140,” the group
stated.
“However, the declaration before the Code of Conduct alone falls far short of the commitment to publicly declare their assets.
“SERAP recalls that the president said before the election that he
would publicly declare his assets and liabilities, and encourage all his
appointees to publicly declare their assets and liabilities as a
pre-condition for appointment.
“We now expect the president to fulfill this promise to the Nigerian people.
“We trust that the president and vice-president will move swiftly to
publicly declare their assets and to publish widely the information on a
dedicated website.’’
Reacting to the request and others made by Nigerians from all walks
of life, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the
President, Garba Shehu, on June 6, assured that Mr. Buhari would make
the report of his asset declaration public.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has said that in fulfillment of one of
their campaign promises, his declared assets and those of Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo will be released to the public upon the completion of
their verification by the Code of Conduct Bureau,” Mr. Shehu said.
“It is hoped that this process will be completed before the expiry of
the 100-day deadline within which they said they would do this.”
He noted that the duly completed forms by both the President and the
Vice President were submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau on March
28th, a day before their inauguration.
Mr. Shehu said his press statement on the matter became necessary to
clarify some insinuations that the President and the Vice-President may
not, after all, declare their assets publicly.
“While such public display of concern is appreciated and valued, it must be said that it is a little precipitate.
“As required by law, the declaration and submission of documents to
the CCB have been made, but there still remains the aspect of
verification which the Bureau will have to conduct to authenticate the
submissions made to it.
“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification exercise,
and not before, that the declaration can be said to have been made and
validated; and only after this, will the details be released to the
public.
“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice
President are committed to public declaration of their assets within the
100 days that they pledged during the presidential campaign.”
But Mr. Buhari’s transition committee believed it was more ideal for
the president to publicly declare his asset immediately he assumed
office, an advice Mr. Buhari spurned.
SOURCE: PREMIUMTIMESNG
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