President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday made public details of their
assets, which had been declared to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
According a statement by the President’s
Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the
President has about N30m in his only bank account with the Union Bank
Plc, while the Vice President has a balance of N94m, $900,000 and 19,000
pounds in his bank accounts.
Shehu’s statement said the President had
shares in Berger Paints, Skye Bank and Union Bank and a total of seven
houses, comprising two mud and a standard house in Daura, his hometown;
two homes in Kaduna, one in Kano and one in Abuja.
Also belonging to the President are two
undeveloped plots of land in Kano and Port Harcourt. The President did
not ascertain the location of the Port Harcourt land, according to the
statement.
Buhari also has an orchard and a ranch
in Daura with 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of
birds and a number of economic trees in them.
But
the statement did not disclose the worth of the landed property and
other assets, which both the President and the Vice President had
declared.
Shehu said the President had no oil well and foreign bank accounts.
Buhari was also said to have declared
that he had several cars, two of which he said were bought with his
savings and the others supplied to him by the Federal Government in his
capacity as a 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,” the statement
added.
For the Vice-President, Shehu said
Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, declared a four-bedroomed
residence at Victoria Garden City in Lagos; three-bedroomed flat in
Ikoyi, Lagos; two bedroomed flat at the Redempion Camp, Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway; and a two-bedroomed mortgage property in Bedford, England.
The vice president operates his Simmons
Cooper Law firm, which is based in Lagos and has shares in MTN Nigeria,
Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa Vistorion Ltd., and
Aviva Ltd., all of which are based in Lagos.
Osinbajo is also said to have one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado Jeep.
Shehu’s statement read in part, “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 N30m 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, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
(SAN) who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into politics
declared a bank balance of about N94m and $900,000 in his bank accounts.
“President Buhari declared however that he had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.
“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.’’
Reacting to the declaration of assets by Buhari and Osinbajo, a lawyer, Carol Ajie, said the documents had loopholes.
Ajie said Buhari and his deputy needed
to “make clear if they have liabilities or not, bearing in mind that the
Constitution places emphasis on assets and liabilities.”
The lawyer said, “We need a bit more on
specificity on some of the items such as shares in Berger Paints, Union
Bank and Skye Bank, considering the length of time between April when he
won the election and now, a period of six months for assets valuation
of his seven houses located in Daura, Kano, Kaduna and Abuja.
“We have no addresses on these houses
and what type of houses-bungalow, block of flats or duplexes- and estate
valuer’s estimates. Same for his farms, orchard and a ranch in Daura,
etc.
Another legal practitioner, Mr. Kayode
Ajulo, said the President had yet to complete the declaration “as it is
the law that his spouse is not a civil servant; the spouse must declare
her asset in the same manner as done by President Buhari.”
“The same goes for his Vice. As it is, there may be likelihood of violation of the law on declaration of assets,” he added.
President of the Nigerian Voters Assembly, Mashood Erubami, said the declaration signified leadership by example.
Erubami said, “This is leadership by
example. The declaration will leave no one in doubt about the commitment
of the Buhari/Osinbajo administration to govern transparently and be
accountable to Nigerians before and after office. With the declaration
of the President, nobody will be spared from not declaring his or her
assets in accordance with the laws of the land.
“It is now left to the Code of Conduct
Bureau to vet the declared assets in order to ensure that the assets are
real and appropriately valued. The assets must not be overvalued, and
must be vetted to have been fairly acquired with truly extended current
market value. Declaration of assets is a precondition for selfless,
transparent and accountable government, which must not be sparing and
selective.”
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