Whereas the public declaration of assets by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo should have been a signpost of the war against corruption by the present administration, it has triggered a battle of wits between the presidency and some members of the opposition. FELIX NWANERI reports
As the euphoria which greeted President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the March 28 presidential election and the elaborate celebrations that ushered him into office as Nigeria’s 15th Head of State, wanes, the former military ruler has started feeling the heat of leading Africa’s most populous nation.
From insecurity in the North Eastern part of the country, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency to systemic corruption that has bedevilled the country for decades, President Buhari faces a herculean task in his quest to take Nigeria out of the woods.
But for a man who had in his inaugural speech, said he is ready to make a change, Buhari seems to have what it takes to face the multi-faceted cankerworm as he commences the implementation of his programmes though members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believe otherwise.
Speaking before world leaders who graced his inauguration at the Eagle Square, Abuja on May 29, Buhari promised to fight corruption and strengthen the country’s democracy. His words: “At home we face enormous challenges. Insecurity, pervasive corruption, the hitherto unending and seemingly impossible fuel and power shortages are the immediate concerns. We are going to tackle them head on.
Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted national responsibility to us. We must not succumb to hopelessness and defeatism. We can fix our problems.” Indeed, Buhari’s emergence was a new dawn for the country given the circumstances that threw him up.
The Katsina State-born Army General made history with his defeat of an incumbent president (Goodluck Jonathan) for the first time in Nigeria’s political history, and thereby became Nigeria’s second former military ruler after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (1999 –2007) to return to the presidency through the ballot.
He equally came at a time high level dissatisfaction and discontent in the polity have compelled most Nigerians to seek for a new beginning. Despite Buhari’s commitment as regards the anti-graft war, there are fears that his assurances may go the way of his predecessors, except current efforts by the anti-graft bodies – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are intensified.
There are also arguments in some quarters that besides the two agencies, the president and his yet to be named cabinet should champion the anticorruption crusade by ensuring transparency and accountability in the conduct of government affairs, which begins with the declaration of their assets. According to the code of conduct for public officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as asspelt out in the Fifth Schedule (Part 1) of the 1999 Constitution, high standard of morality and accountability in the conduct of government business are expected of government functionaries and any act of violation amounts to corruption. Specifically, the 11th code of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Handbook for Public Officers states: “Every public officer shall within three months after taking office and thereafter:
(a) at the end of every four years; and
(b) at the end of the term of office: submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a declaration of all his properties, assets and liabilities and those of his spouse, or unmarried children under the age of 21 years.”
Under the same code, the law adds:
“Any statement in such declaration that is found to be false by any authority or person authorized in that behalf to verify it shall be deemed to be a breach of this code; Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after any declaration under this constitution and which is not fairly attributable by subparagraph (1) (a) of this gift or loan approved by the code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this code unless the contrary is proved.”
The CCB and Tribunal Act, Chapter 56 LFN 1990, not only gave the Bureau the mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business but to implement the above mandate and provisions of Section 3 (Part 1) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution which includes to:
Receive declarations by public officers under paragraph 11 of part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and examine the declarations in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct or any Law. Others are to retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe; ensure compliance with and, where appropriate, enforce the provisions of the Code of Conduct or any law relating thereto; receive complaints about noncompliance with or breach of the provisions of the Code of Conduct or any law in relation thereto, investigate the complaints and, where appropriate, refer such matters to the Code of Conduct Tribunal among others.
Late President Umaru Yar’Adua set the pace when on coming to power in 2007, he became Nigeria’s first president to publicly declare his assets. He made public, photocopies of his completed assets declaration form as submitted to the CCB, a month (June 28, 2007), after being sworn in.
The document detailed his assets, valued at N856.4 million with a total annual income that was put at N18.7 million. A breakdown showed that Yar’Adua had a total of N43, 702, 892.43 as cash in his bank accounts, with other assets contributing for the rest.
They include his family compound in Katsina State, which he described as an inheritance and worth N105 million; a multi-storey building at A8 Wuse 2, Abuja and a duplex at Malali, Kaduna State, valued at N212 million and N120 million, respectively.
Others are a seven-bedroom duplex at 2, Lema Jubril Close, valued at N90 million, which he said was built from savings in 1987 and a vacant plot at Asokoro New Layout in Abuja, valued at N50 million; 2,000,000 units of shares of Habib Bank acquired in 1998; 100,000 units of shares of Intercity Bank Plc.; and another 100,000 units of shares of Muradi Hotels Limited.
He also disclosed that he had vehicles worth N181,250,000, consisting of 29 new cars worth N174,700,000 in both Katsina and Abuja, which he described as campaign vehicles, a Honda Accord car worth N350,000 and a Mercedes Benz worth another N6,500,000.
He went a step further by declaring his wife’s, as put at N19 million. While Yar’Adua’s action earned him commendations, his successor, and immediate past president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Namadi Sambo, failed to declare their assets publicly.
The outgone president said doing such was a matter of principle and not constitutional. His words: “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. When I was the Vice President, that matter came up, and I told the former President (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.” Jonathan’s position was however dismissed by many, who have continued to clamour for assets declaration by public office holders. The demand heightened with the coming to power of the APC victory in the presidential poll as the party made war against graft the central theme of its campaign.
The argument was that Buhari and Osinbajo must take the lead in the anti-graft war by declaring their assets so that the citizenry can keep tab on them as they manage the nation’s resources between now and 2019. This pressure, however, paid off penultimate week when both men made public their assets.
Buhari’s worth
According to documents submitted by President Buhari to the CCB at the time he was sworn in on May 29, he had less than N30 million cash to his name. The documents, which officials of the bureau said they are still vetting and will soon make public, show Buhari had only one bank account with Union Bank. He had no foreign account, no factory, no enterprises, no registered company and no oil wells. A statement by the Presidency said Buhari declared he had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.
The documents also revealed that the president had a total of five homes, including two mud houses in Daura. Two of those properties are in Kaduna, and one each in Kano, Daura and Abuja. One of the mud houses in Daura was inherited from his late older sister, another from his late father.
He borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes. President Buhari also declared two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt, the location of which he is still trying to identify. He also owns farms, an orchard and a ranch.
His farm holdings include 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees. The documents also showed that the retired General owns a number of cars, two of which he bought from his savings. The others were supplied to him by the Federal Government in his capacity as a former Head of State as provided by the law. The rest were donated to him by wellwishers after his Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) was damaged in the Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014.
Osinbajo ‘richer’ than Buhari
Vice President Osinbajo who had been a successful lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) before venturing into politics, by his declaration, is no doubt richer than his principal. He had N94 million and $900,000 in his bank accounts. Assets of the professor of Law include his four-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos and a three-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi.
He also owns a two-bedroom flat at the Redemption Camp, off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and another two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England. The vice president has no other landed properties on the declaration form. Apart from his law firm,presknown as SimmonsCooper, Osinbajo also declared shareholding in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd. and MTN Nigeria.
According to details shown on the form, Osinbajo also has 19,000 pounds in Nigerian banks with the foreign currencies kept in local domiciliary accounts. His personal vehicles are: one Infinity SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado SUV.
PDP: Declaration deceptive
As expected, the PDP, which has faulted almost every policy and programme of the present administration, described the assets declaration by the president and his vice as a deceptive window-dressing to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians. The party observed that Buhari failed to produce copies of his declarations, detailing the exact nature and value of respective assets, thereby failing in his promise on March 18 to publicly declare his assets and liability and also encourage his political appointees to do so.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement, said: “We have noted the release of a flimsy list of belongings of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo by the Presidency, who want such to pass as the public declaration of assets as pledged by the president.
“Nigerians are not deceived by this poor attempt at windowdressing designed by the Presidency to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace in a desperate bid to shore up its diminished image. We ask, is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance with their widely observed inclination for flip flopping, backtracking and brazen denials of their statements and actions? “All we want is credibility, integrity and sincerity of purpose.
We are not questioning how a President, who by December last year, declared that he had only N1 million in his account, could suddenly now list N30 million in the same bank account by May 29, and after an expensive campaign; we are not yet demanding the public declaration of his assets in his wife’s name.
“We are not even applauding the multiplication of his cows from 150 to 250 in a space of three months, arising from his dual and conflicting pronouncements on this issue. What the PDP and discerning Nigerians demand is for Mr. President to always stand by his words and pledge. Mr. President, this is a mere list of your belongings and not public declaration of assets in fulfilment of your covenant with Nigerians.”
Kudos from stakeholders
While it was condemnation from the PDP, it was however, commendations from some stakeholders and groups. One of such groups which hailed the president’s action, Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), said the declaration turned the page on transparency and accountability in Nigeria.
The group said: “Compared to former President Jonathan who notoriously failed to declare his assets despite repeated demands by Nigerians, both Buhari and Osinbajo have shown by publicly declaring their assets that transparency doesn’t take years to achieve. “Nigerians will now be able to use the assets published as a baseline and thus means for comparison at the end of the term of this government.”
‘Buhari is dirt-poor’
The global media was not left out of the debate over Buhari’s assets declaration. The Washington Post, in its review on the issue, wrote: “By the standards of sub-Saharan African leaders, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is dirt-poor.” The newspaper further wrote: “The question on many minds is this: Is Buhari, Nigeria’s former military ruler and ex-head of the oil ministry, telling the truth? Corruption, after all, is a major problem in Africa’s largest economy. Buhari himself has publicly said that more than $150 billion is missing from the government’s coffers.
“Still, the public declaration appears to be an attempt to show some much-needed transparency. Buhari was elected in March largely by promising that he wouldn’t tolerate corruption. What’s clear is that Buhari has done what his predecessors and most other African leaders have never done.”
Unresolved puzzles
While the Presidency and PDP trade words on the issue, there is no doubt that Buhari and Osinbajo’s declaration was a clear departure from that of Yar’Adua as theirs lacked details. The value of the houses and cars listed by both men were not mentioned. Also, the worth of the shares they owned in the respective companies listed, were equally not declared.
There was also noticeable discrepancies in what the president declared to what he earlier claimed to have owned. He had said during the campaigns that he had about N1 million in his account, about 150 of cattle and houses in Kaduna, Kano and Daura. There was no mention of the property in Abuja and landed property in Kano and Port Harcourt, which were captured in his declaration.
Although the inconsistency is pardonable as the President cannot list all his assets in one count, National Secretary of Labour Party (LP), Kayode Ajulo,argued that assets declaration by any public office holder must be done in prescribed form with particulars to ensure clarity and certainty. He added that particulars and full description of the asset has to be given for proper identification and verification.
“It is also incomplete as the spouses of the two politicians did not declare theirs with their husbands; it is the law that where any spouse of the declarant is not a civil servant/ public servant such spouse should make the declaration with the better half,” he said.
A lawyer and president of Aka Ikenga, an Igbo think tank, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, told New Telegraph that though the president and his vice deserve commendation, the declarations they made fell short of expectations. He said: I know that the constitution talks of declaration of assets and liabilities.
What we have seen so far is assets, we have not seen liabilities. Secondly, Mr. President is said to have N30 million in his bank account and I remember that they described him as a poor man and I wondered if anybody who has N30 million is a poor man, who knows what a rich man would have.
“Mr. President’s house in Abuja cannot be anything less than N500 million. In other words, both the president and vice president are not men of straw, they are very wealthy people. Thirdly, the vice president talks of his house in VGC. If you know the value of properties in that part of Lagos, then you will know that he is really wealthy. Make no mistake about it, the declarations fall short of expectations but we must commend them. So, we prefer the declarations as envisaged by the constitution, which includes their wives and children.”
Buhari replies critics
Replying his critics through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina,the President said he has declared his assets four times in the course of offering service to the country. He also affirmed that it was a constitutional requirement that all public office holders should declare their assets before and after their term in office.
His words: “I recall that in 1975 when late Murtala Muhammed became the Head of State, we were lined up in the corridor – governors, ministers, members of the Supreme Military Council – and officials of Ministry of Justice were brought and every individual was made to declare his assets.
“So right now, all heads of state and government, governors, ministers, permanent secretaries will have to declare their assets because it is a constitutional requirement. “In Nigeria, it is a constitutional issue and that is why I am blaming you gentlemen of the press.
If you really want to do investigative journalism, you don’t have to worry me at this stage; I have declared my assets four times. “When I was governor in 1975, I declared. After being Minister of Petroleum and as a member of Supreme Military Council, I declared. When I was Head of State and now as a President, I also declared.
“I have declared my assets and all that I have four times, and you (the media) have the right to go and demand for my declaration. Instead, I am being harassed.” While Nigerians anxiously wait for the Sam Baba-led CCB to investigate and make public its findings on the assets declared by the president and his vice, it is expected that the bureau, which has been branded a lame duck by most citizens for its inability to deal with outright refusal of public officers to declare assets, over-exaggerated declaration and condoning of corruption through hoarding of information supposedly meant for the public, should rise to its responsibilities.