Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari has stated that he was under obligation to make his assets declaration public to fulfill one of his campaign promises.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who announced this in a statement on behalf of Buhari on Saturday, said, “The duly completed forms by both the President and the Vice-President were submitted to the CCB on May 28, one day to their inauguration.”
Shehu said the statement was warranted by the need to clarify some suggestions that Buhari and Osinbajo might not, after all, declare their assets publicly.
In the statement, Shehu said, “While such public display of concern is appreciated and valued, it must be said that it is a little precipitate. As required by law, the declaration and submission of documents to the CCB have been made, but there still remains the aspect of verification which the Bureau will have to conduct to authenticate the submissions made to it.
“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to have been made and validated; and only after this, will the details be released to the public.”
Shehu further said that the president and the vice-president are committed to public declaration of their assets within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential campaign prior to the March 28 election.
“The President and the Vice President wish to thank Nigerians for their show of concern, and for the confidence they have shown in their leaders’ integrity, as evidenced by the high pedestal of uprightness and expectations on which they have placed them,” the statement said.
Records show that the late President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, from Katsina State like Buhari, was the first and the only Nigeria’s President to have publicly declared his assets when he assumed office.