LAGOS, Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo have been dragged before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly failing to keep to the promise to Nigerians during electioneering campaigns on public declaration assets.
A lawyer and rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, who initiated the suit, is contending that by declaring their assets secretly, Buhari and Osinbajo have violated Section 172 and Section 11 (1) and (2) of the Code of Conduct for public officers under the fifth schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Apart from Buhari and Osinbajo, other defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Buhari and Osinbajo had declared their assets to the CCB secret ly, a development which drew public condemnation, with many insisting that it was a sharp departure from the anti-corruption posture of the president and his vice.
Akingbolu, who formulated three questions for the court’s determination, is asking an order declaring that it was mandatory for the CCB to publicly publish the assets of Buhari and Osinbajo.
He is also seeking a declaration that the secret declaration of assets by Buhari and Osinbajo was unconstitutional, and an order mandating them to publicly declare their assets in line with the Code of Conduct for public officers under the fifth schedule to the Constitution.
Akingbolu, in an affidavit in support of the suit, recalled that Buhari and Osinbajo made it abundantly clear while canvassing for votes from Nigerians that they would publicly declare their assets in order to prove that they would run a transparent government.
Credit: Daily Independent (Nigeria)
