Jonathan, Sambo, others to declare assets within 30 days

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.
Jonathan had said, “The issue of
public assets 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. When I was the vice-
president, that matter came up, and
I told the former President (late
Musa Yar’Adua) that 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.”
“Initially, I said they can talk about
it from morning to night, I will not.
It is not proper. If one amends the
law to say that only the president
and the vice-president should
declare assets publicly, fine. But,
presently, everybody who is
holding political office is expected
to and I say it is not right.”
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.
Our 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.
Identities of those who had
complied with the provisions of the
law under Paragraph II of the 5th
Schedule of the 1999 Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
could not be ascertained as of press
time.
The Governors of Rivers and Kogi
states, however, confirmed receipt
of the declaration forms.
The Chief of Staff, Government
House, Port Harcourt, Mr. Tony
Okocha, told SUNDAY PUNCH that
Governor Rotimi Amaechi would
soon submit his assets declaration
form to the Code of Conduct
Bureau.
Okocha said he was aware that his
boss received the form.
“The Governor Rotimi Amaechi that
I know will submit his form to the
bureau very soon. He has no
skeleton in his cupboard and has
nothing to hide anywhere in
Nigeria and anywhere in the
world,” Okocha stressed.
The Special Adviser to the Kogi
State Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, on
Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi,
also said the governor, his deputy,
commissioners and all political
appointees in the state had
submitted the forms they collected
to the bureau.
In a telephone interview with our
correspondent in Ilorin on
Saturday, he said, “Regarding the
submission of the assets
declaration form, the governor is
not at fault; the commissioners and
all other relevant political office
holders are not at fault.”
In the same vein, Special Adviser to
Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Media,
Dr. Festus Adedayo, told our
correspondent that Ajimobi had no
intention of hiding his assets from
the CCB. He said the governor had
demonstrated uprightness and
honesty as a public servant and that
having declared his asset before he
became a governor, he would not
shy away from doing it again.
He said, “He certainly will. Don’t
forget that Ajimobi was one of the
few public office holders who
declared his assets publicly in
2011.”
The Chief Press Secretary to
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
State, Peter Okhiria, said the form
had been submitted by the
governor prior to his swearing in,
as stipulated by law.
“In fact, before the governor was
sworn in, he submitted the form,”
Okhiria told one of our
correspondents on the telephone.
In Akwa Ibom, Governor Godswill
Akpabio’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Anietie Ukpe, refused to disclose if
the governor had collected the
form.
He said, “If my boss filled the assets
declaration form, is it supposed to
be made public?”