President Muhammadu Buhari will not force any of his ministers to publicly declare their assets and liabilities, the Presidency said on Friday.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who confirmed the position while responding to inquiries by the Saturday Tribune, said that the President will comply with the provisions of the Constitution in handling the matter.
Adesina, was asked two questions by our correspondent, including whether the President will require the ministers to publicly declare their assets as he did recently and when the President will make public the assets of his wife as contained in the Code of Conduct form he (the President) submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). The presidential spokesman simply replied: “The President will do whatever the law requires.”
He was silent on the time the President would possibly authorise the release of the assets of his wife as contained in the CCB form submitted by Buhari.
Section 11(1) (a, b)of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution requires every public officer to declare his assets before the CCB and that of his her spouse and unmarried children below the age of 18 years.
Section 11(1) of the Fifth Schedule reads: “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 assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of eighteen years.”
