It has been revealed that it is not mandatory for Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and other public servants who are leaving office on May 29 to openly declare their assets.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has established that there’s an Act which does not mandate them to openly declare their assets.
A senior official of the Bureau Veronica Kato, revealed to newsmen that even though the Act does not mandate them to do so, the public servants can, on their own, decide to do it.
She said the CCB can publicise the assets declaration documents following a court order — in a situation where a public servant is been investigated or tried in connection with the said acquired assets.
She said: “It is not possible to make the assets declared to the CCB by these public officials public. There is a law guiding the CCB and that law does not allow us to do so. This is due to the conditions upon which the assets declaration is constituted according to the guidelines.
“The assets declaration form is to be given to the public officials on terms and conditions as prescribed by the National Assembly, and those terms and conditions, up till now, do not permit us to make it available to the public. Besides, it is a private document and it’s confidential.
“It’s a different case where there’s a petition or something of that sort demanding that a particular official’s declared assets should be made available for investigation purposes. If a public official decides on their own volition to make it public, such a person will do that. We have been established for over 25 years and we don’t make declared assets’ details public because we don’t have the power to do that.
“For example, when the incumbent President and his deputy came into office, they decided to declare their assets publicly. That was their decision. They are also the only ones that can decide to make the assets public as they are leaving.
“Our duty is to ensure that public officials declare their assets to the CCB; we take custody of the asset declaration forms and we verify those assets, and when we see red flags, we investigate and prosecute them if we find contravention against the code of conduct rule. Those are our primary functions.”
She said members of the public can raise alarm should they are aware that the public servant has more properties than he has claimed in the documents.
She said: “And the citizen can provide evidence to proof that such assets were acquired with illicit funds and through the abuse of their office, the citizen can write a petition to the CCB and we will investigate and compare what they declared with what they now have.
“If we can establish beyond reasonable doubt that these things were acquired illicitly, then we go to court.”