President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday said that the public release of his asset declaration is being delayed by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
According to President Buhari, his declared assets and those of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will be released to the public upon the completion of their verification by the bureau. Buhari hoped that the verification exercise would be completed before the expiration of the 100-day deadline within which he and Osinbajo said they would do this.
The President 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 March 28th, a clear day ahead of 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.
The statement 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.”
According to the statement, 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.
The late President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, also from Katsina State as Buhari, was the first and the only Nigeria’s President to have publicly declared his assets when he assumed office.
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