A statement released by the
Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam
Garba Shehu said:
”Documents submitted by
President Muhammadu Buhari to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) show that the
retired General has indeed been living an austere and Spartan lifestyle,
contrary to what many might expect of a former Head of State of Nigeria and one
who has held a number of top government positions, such as governor, Minister
of petroleum and the head of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PTDF).
“The documents submitted to
the CCB, which officials say are still being vetted and will soon be made
public, show that prior to being sworn in on May 29, President Buhari had
less than N30 million to his name. He also had only one bank account, with the
Union Bank. President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no
enterprises.
“He also had no registered
company and no oil wells.
“The Vice President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into
politics declared a bank balance of about N94 million and 900,000 United States
Dollars in his bank accounts.
“President Buhari declared
however that he had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.
“This is entirely unlike what
one might expect from a former head of state of a country like Nigeria.
“The documents also revealed
that President Buhari had a total of five homes, and two mud houses in Daura.
He had two homes in Kaduna, one each in Kano, Daura and in 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 has two
undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt. He is
still trying to trace the location of the Port Harcourt land.
“In addition to the homes in
Daura, he has farms, an orchard and a ranch. The total number of his holdings
in the farm include: 270 head of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of
birds and a number of economic trees.
“The documents also showed
that the retired General uses a number of cars, two of which he bought from his
savings and the others supplied to him by the federal government in his
capacity as former Head of State. The rest were donated to him by well-wishers
after his jeep was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July
2014.
“As revealed by the same
forms, highlights of the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s asset
declaration include; his four-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos
and a thtree-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi. The Vice President also has
a two-bedroom flat at the popular Redemption Camp along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
and a two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England. Aside from these, the
Vice President has no other landed properties on the form.
“Apart from his law firm,
known as SimmonsCooper, the Vice-President 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, the Vice-President has about ninety four million naira, nine hundred
thousand US dollars and nineteen thousand pounds in Nigerian Banks with the
foreign currencies kept in local domiciliary accounts. His personal vehicles
are one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado Jeep.
“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.”
The Fifth Schedule (part 1) of
the Constitution (Code of Conduct for Public Officers) Sub section
11. (1), says: Subject to the provisions of this Constitution,
every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of
this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter –
(a) at the end of every
four years; and
(b) at the end of his
term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of
all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children
under the age of eighteen years.”
While it is not mandatory for
the assests declared to be made public, the president and vice president have
chosen to make their declaration public in line with transparency and
accountability.
Before now, only the late
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua among other leaders had publicly declared his
assets.
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