President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo have fulfilled one of their campaign promises, by declaring their assets.
According to Garba Shehu, head of Buhari’s media team, the Code of Conduct Bureau on Friday acknowledged that Buhari and Osinbajo had separately submitted their assets declaration form on May 28.
Shehu said Buhari’s declarant identity was given as: “President: 000001/2015”.
He said by declaring their assets, Buhari and Osinbajo had fulfilled the requirements of the constitution and the first of their many campaign promises.
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Chapter VI, Section 140 of the Nigerian constitution stipulates that a person elected to the office of president shall not begin to perform the functions of that office until he has declared his assets and liabilities.
Assets of declaration was one of the talking points of Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure. Although he did declare his asstes, he never made public.
Asked during his third presidential media chat why he refused to publicly declare his assets as an example for members of his cabinet, Jonathan gave an answer that would go on to haunt him for the rest of his tenure.
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“The issue of public asset declaration is a matter of personal principle. That is the way I see it, and I don’t give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven,” he said.
“When I was the vice-president , that matter came up, and I told the former president (late Musa Yar’adua), let’s not start something that would make us play into the hands of people and create an anomalous situation in the country.
“The law is clear. A public officer should declare his assets, and if there are issues, then the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not. When it is said that people should declare their assets in public, it is not only the president or the vice-president, it includes everybody, including ministers.
“When I was a governor in Bayelsa state for about a year before becoming vice-president, I was investigated thoroughly. I have nothing to hide. But because I was under somebody and it was becoming an issue, because of the media, and because my boss had declared, it was said that the vice-president must. I declared, not because I wanted to.”
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5 comments
How many cows, how much money, how many wives, how many children??
Good to know. (But) where are the details of GMB and Osinbajo’s assets?
You may visit the code of conduct bureau to requestfor it sir.
Thank you Sir, for the reference. I have a long list of promises to tick against, including public declaration of assets, unless I am missing something. For me, public declaration of assets is fundamental to the expected transparent fight against corruption, one good reason many a Nigerian voted for GMB. The change I expect in this regard is not doing the same thing that predecessors did (just filing their assets declaration with the Code of Conduct), but publishing the full details of the assets declaration. Imagine the transparency gain in GMB, for instance, going on national television and reading out the assets declaration he filed with the Code of Conduct. That will be one welcome change from a public officer.
please how much is his worth? may b he doesn’t hv much to declare. don’t bury ur head give us d figure pls u promised us publicly during d campaign we equally need it publicly during d administration.