Femi Adesina, special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, says the president never promised to make his assets public.
Adesina said the issue of assets publishing cannot be credited to Buhari but the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said Buhari has declared his assets in compliance with the law and may decide to make them public when verification is concluded by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
He was speaking in an interview with Kayode Ogundamisi, a social commentator.
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“You need to get his words right, go and check all that the president said during the campaign, in no place would you see it attributed to him as a person,” Adesina said.
“But then there is a document by his party, the All Progressives Congress, saying he would declare publicly, so we need to set that right, it’s a declaration by his party.
“Now what does the law require? The law requires public officers to declare their assets; he has done that. But his party has a document that says he would do it publicly.
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“There is a procedure for that, and the procedure is that you first declare, code of conduct (bureau) would verify and after that, if you want to make it public, the onus lies on you to say release. The procedure has to be followed.”
The presidential spokesman went on to say the decision to release or not release the asset for public consumption would be taken by the president when verification is done.
“He has declared, and it is deposited with the code of conduct bureau and they need to verify. Let’s come to that time when code of conduct would say we have completed verification.”
When contacted, Adesina said he had nothing to add to what he said in the interview.
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“You already heard what I said, I have nothing to add,” he told TheCable.
Nigerians have been mounting pressure on the president to publish the details of his assets.
18 comments
He is very arrogant and without a conscience. Did they speak grammar as this before the poor gave their mandate?
I think it will do no harm to the person and reputation of the President if he publishes his declared assets. Nigerians have always seen him as the poorest ex president of this country because of his austere living and uprightness. The only way he can straighten that belief is for him to declare his assets and publish it. The fact that it was the party that said that his declared asset will be published isno excuse that the president will not publish it. At the time of campaign the party and the president’s declaration are one and the same. I believe the president will do the right thing at the right time. He is a man of his and his party’s word.
Association of vipers, men with lying tongues.
His assets are so many that it is takin the CCB 3months to verify.
I thouht he is a simple man, with simple assets.
We all should stop deceiving ourselves.
The best thing to say when you don’t know what to say is to say nothing. PMB owes Nigerians the public declaration of his assets without which he is less a man of honour and his campaign against corruption less on a stable start. All this talk about verification is being clever by dots. The contract was for a public declaration of assets and Nigerians await.
I thought party is supreme
I just think Buhari is a criminal like all the rest. He deceived the public to get their mandate. If he is a saint like he expects us to believe, he shld declare his asset publicly. He shld also cut down on all those enormous allowances he is receiving. Cutting down his salary is no different from Jonathan. We all kno that the loot is in the allowances. How can he be feeding with one billion naira when millions of Nigerians live below one dollar. Prove us otherwise Alh Buhari!
Why didn’t him said he wouldn’t declare his assets publicly during campaign when the party said so! Abeg, he is buying time to accumulate as usual! You……can see, the devil you know is better than the angel…….
Nigerians asked for it & voted for it. So don’t complain now. You are getting the leaders you deserve.
This is just the beginning of the PMB & APC deceiptions. Watch out for more contra actions and excuses.
What, or who was the better alternative at the election?
The Clueless One?
You who were not on the ballot?
Talking of The Clueless One, he is not coming back. His next stop is Kirikiri for:
300 years!
You and your generation will get their first.
Pls pls pls buhari should declare his assets on the pages of newsprints and on radio/tv or his fights against corruptions in nigeria will come to noting. Others leaders that will come after him,nigerians will put pressure on them to emulate buhari. Either apc said he will declare his asset or he said it , is not the issue here, the declaration openly will enhance his fight against corruption which is the cancer eating deep into fabrics of many nigerians
PRESIDENT MUHAMMED BUHARI. Is, and will be the best president Nigeria ever had. I know that Buhari has come to Buharise Nigeria. Corruption is about running away.
You are very myopic, moronic and short sighted. Does nigeria begin and end with buhari? Instead of you to pray that every leader after him will do better than him and build on his legacy you are wishing us to go backwards……..you are a dummy
Mr president has declared his assets. Let the CCB appoint a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer to verify the assets declared and have them properly valued. Let the CCB even know what president Buhari has and the worth before the facts are made public. After verification and valuation by an independent Valuer, then the publication can be made to all Nigerians. If there is under declaration or over declaration, those close to him will sooner or later expose him if his declaration is false or incomplete.
Let us give Mr President the benefit of doubt for now. Let CCB do their work the proper way it should be done.
The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and stake holders in the profession have been mounting pressure on the CCB to allow registered surveyors and Valuers to verify and value assets of all public officers when they come in and when they complete their term in office. That is the only way we can reduce to the minimum public officers looting the treasury while in office. Let Mr President lead by example by not only declaring his assets but get them verified and valued before making his assets declaration public. We are all waiting for Mr President to do the needful.
I am not surprised. Politicians only say what exciting voters want to hear. Buhari is now playing around semantics to avoid what he pledged to do.
So what is wrong with a public declaration,if he claims to be so poor as to not having 27 milion naira to purchase a presidential nomination form?
I await his irrational supporters to defend this reversal and crucify me for daring to remind them of the sameness of policians when it comes to dishonesty.
Patience.
Femi Adesina should go to Google and search the phrase “My covenant with Nigerians- by Muhammadu Buhari”. He should do that right now because many of us Nigerians have that document saved away on our different e-devices.In that covenant, the then Candidate Buhari wrote in the first person. It didn’t sound like a party document but like his own original thought. The first major point under the first section of the covenant which was titled “Corruption and governance” was that he will declare his assets PUBLICLY. Femi Adesina is doing a horrid job as a Presidential spokesman, he speaks with a mien of arrogance and worst of all, his arguments and explanations are often immature, tawdry and very poorly researched- just as the case in the issue currently under discussion. He may need to go for a crash course-which are abundant online-on how to speak for a President.
By the way in case Mr Femi Adesina cannot get the President’s pre-election document promising Public assets declaration, he should publish his email, we will send it to him. A better way to have handled that question was to simply say that the verification process was on and the issue of public declaration would be addressed subsequently. Fullstop! Point made, but no commitments given…