With five days to the end of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure, the President, Vice-President Namadi
Sambo, 29 governors and 42 ministers have been asked by the Code of Conduct
Bureau to declare their assets, SUNDAY PUNCH authoritatively reports.
Also on the list of public
officials who must declare their assets before leaving office are the country’s
109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.
The bureau, last week, issued
the Completed Assets Declaration Forms to them with a 30-day deadline to return
the completed forms. The deadline countdown starts from the day of the receipt
of the forms.
Apart from the outgoing
government officials, the forms have also been made available to incoming
public officers, particularly members of the states and National Assembly.
The officers that will be
assuming office in the incoming dispensation also have to return the completed
forms within 30 days of receiving it.
The CCB, in an advertorial by
its Acting Secretary, Kolade Omoyola, in some newspapers last Tuesday, had
reminded “political office holders to declare their assets on assumption and
vacation of office in accordance with Paragraph II of the 5th Schedule of the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”
According to the law quoted by
the CCB, failure of a public officer to declare his or her assets in line with
law:
“shall attract on conviction
any or all of the following: (a) Removal from office (b) Disqualification from
holding any public office, (c) Forfeiture to the state any property acquired in
abuse of office or dishonesty.”
Jonathan had, last year,
rejected calls on public office holders to declare their assets openly, before
and after office. According to the President, public declaration of assets is
“playing to the gallery.”
The President said this during
his third presidential media chat in Aso Villa, Abuja. The President emphasised
that no amount of pressure would make him declare what he owned. He argued that
making his assets public knowledge would not change the economy or solve the
challenges in the security, power and agriculture sectors.
He added that as Vice-President
to the late President Musa Yar’Adua, he declared his assets then because
Yar’Adua forced him to. Yar’Adua is the only Nigerian President known to have
declared his assets.
SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered
that so far, only seven senators and 40 House of Representatives members in the
outgoing 7th National Assembly have submitted their forms to the bureau as
required of them under the law.
Their correspondent also learnt
that two of the 42 ministers have also completed and submitted their forms.
It could not be confirmed on
Friday whether President Jonathan, Sambo and the governors had submitted their
completed forms
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