Buhari, Osinbajo, 44 Ministers To Declare Their Assets Before End Of Tenure

Forty-four ministers in the Federal Executive Council, including President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Member of the Senate of Nigeria Kashim Shettima, will declare their assets ahead of May 29, which marks the end of the tenure.

Mustapha Musa, who serves as the Special Adviser to the Code of Conduct Bureau Chairman on General Duties, confirmed on Sunday that the arrangements have been made to ensure a smooth issuance of the asset forms to the officials currently in power, and their successors.

"They (officials) are expected to declare all their assets at the point of exit, at the point of leaving office. That's what the law says," Musa said, Punch reported. "They will submit the forms when leaving the office, you cannot submit assets declaration forms while in office."

"So, it is at the point of entrance and point of exit. That is what the constitution says, that is what the Code of Conduct Bureau Act says under section 15. The same thing applies to those who are about to come into government but they have three months to declare," he continued.

The Special Adviser further shared that the assets declaration forms are available online and the bureau will soon make the declaration process digitized.

"The officials are expected to get the forms from the bureau and in fact, they can even go online. We cannot stop issuing the forms because they are online but very soon, we will stop the hard copy and ask them to make their declaration online," Musa added.

When Musa was asked if the outgoing officials have picked up forms, he replied it depended on their mindset because as per the law, they are supposed to declare the assets at the exit point.

He went on to explain, "So if they pick it now, they cannot submit it until they are about to leave the office. They still have two months to go, so even if they fill out the forms now, they cannot give them to us."

The Special Adviser also shared that several former ministers and ex-governors, who had under-declared their assets, were facing trial, even after leaving office.

"We are prosecuting and we are securing convictions. We prosecute in thousands. We have hundreds of cases before the tribunal. We prosecute daily," he noted. "The Code of Conduct Bureau is the only body empowered by the constitution to prosecute cases of breaches of the code of conduct for public officers."

"At the tribunal, it is only the judiciary body that has the power to prosecute public officers. So, the tribunal is always our hope. I cannot give you the figure but there are many including all erring public officials."

Aside from President Buhari and vice president Osinbajo, 28 state governors and their cabinet members alongside state assembly members and local government chairmen will declare their assets by filling out the Code of Conduct Bureau forms.

Buhari came into power in 2015, and, now, former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu is all set to take over the role of president in May.