To stave off growing criticisms over his delay in declaring his assets as promised during his political campaigns, President Muhammadu Buhari has come out clean on the contentious subject. President Muhammed Buhari said his declared assets and those of his vice, Yemi Osinbajo will be released to the public after the completion of their verification by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Mallam Garba Shehu,the President’s Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), said this much in a statement released on behalf of the President yesterday.
The process, he hoped, would be completed before the 100-day deadline within which CCB said it would do so. The delay has brought about criticism from keen political watchers, for whom nothing short of the assets declaration being made public would suffice.
It would be recalled that the president and the vice president duly submitted their completed forms to the CCB on May 28, a day ahead of their inauguration.
Shehu said the statement became necessary to clarify some insinuations that the president and his vice may not, after all, declare their assets publicly, adding that the duo have already declared their assets before CCB, without giving details of the assets declared. This was as he described the assertions by concerned members of the public on the issue as “a little too early”.
“While such public display of concern is appreciated and valued, it must be said that it is a little precipitate,” the statement read.
“As required by law, the declaration and submission of documents to the CCB have been made, but there still remains the aspect of verification which the Bureau will have to conduct to authenticate the submissions made to it. “In the circumstances, it is only after this verification exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to have been made and validated; and only after this, will the details be released to the public.
“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice President are committed to public declaration of their assets within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential campaign.
“The President and the Vice President wish to thank Nigerians for their show of concern, and for the confidence they have shown in their leaders’ integrity, as evidenced by the high pedestal of uprightness and expectations on which they have placed them.”
