Last week President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo made good their promise to make their assets declaration public. Both men are said to have made Nigerians and the All Progressives Congress (APC) members proud as they publicly disclosed their assets and liabilities.
From their assets declared, Mr. Buhari had N30 million in his bank account before taking office on May 29, while Mr. Osinbajo had N94 million and $900,000, the presidency said in a statement quoting details from the asset declaration forms filed by the two leaders at the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Good enough, the presidency explained that the delay in the release of the assets to the public was because they were awaiting verification of the declared assets by the Code of Conduct Bureau before making the details public. So what Nigerians got from the presidency was asset under verification and they promised that after the verification, the details would be released to Nigerians and the wider public. This is some added quality of the duo of Buhari and Osinbajo.
Interestingly, Mr. President from the assets declared does not have any foreign bank account and has no money anywhere overseas. This gives some air of hope and credibility to the Nigerian state.
Since the open declaration of their assets, Nigerians both at home and in Diaspora as well as members of the international community have been praising the public declaration, particularly when viewed from the modest assets owned by the two leaders.
But surprisingly, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Friday said “the release of a mere list of belongings falls short of credibility, transparency and anti-corruption standards as well as exposes the proclivity of the present administration for deception.”
How else does the PDP and Olisa Metuh want the duo’s assets declared moreso when the information released were as contained in the form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau. Nigerians have not forgotton that the PDP does not practice public assets declaration and as such lacks the moral ground to criticise the methods or process of assets declaration by Messrs Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo.
We recall several pressures pilled on former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP to make his assets public. He bluntly refused to declare his massive wealth acquired within his short but speedy time in politics. for over six years and till Jonathan left office on May 29, 2015 he bluntly refused to declare his assets on the flimsy excuse that he declared his assets as Vice President under Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. His reluctant declaration of assets at that time was sequel to the push by Yar’Adua otherwise he would not have declared his assets. Where was Olisa Metuh since then? Has he suddenly dropped from the blues?
President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the mounting calls on public office holders to publicly declare their assets while in office, saying such clamour by Nigerians is not right, as officials should be allowed to determine whether making their assets public agree with their principles.
He made it clear his own principle disagree vehemently with allowing the people he governs know how much he is worth and what he really owns. In the words of Jonathan during his third presidential media chat when journalists pilled pressure on him, he said: “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 (late Musa 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.” Yar’Adua and indeed outspoken Nigerians actually pressurized him to declare against his wish.
Goodluck Jonathan’s assets which were made public by his Senior Special Assistant, Ima Niboro indicated that the value of his total assets and cash in banks stood at N295, 304,420. What was his asset when he left office as President in May 29, 2015? Nigerians do not know. Even as Vice President Many years ago, Jonathan was richer than Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo put together.
Olisa Metuh and his cohorts in the PDP were probably in the spirit world when all these were happening.
When Buhari and Osinbajo say “as soon as the CCB is through with the process, the documents will be released to the Nigerian public and people can see for themselves.” what more does the PDP want? The PDP should be be preparing its members nationwide to face the probe that would follow in the weeks and months and return all they have stolen from the nation.
Mr. President and his Deputy have declared their assets, it is up to anybody who is not satisfied with the information given to further investigate their claims and come up with the true situation of what they know as their assets. In fact, the PDP can go the extra mile to declare the assets of Buhari and Osinbajo if they know where they are anywhere in the world.
Both men (Buhari and Osinbajo) have demonstrated transparency and accountability of the highest order by making their declared assets public. It is only a foolish man that would turn round and begin to ask from another what he cannot give. That’s exactly what Olisa Metuh’s PDP is doing and what a shame.
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State
