The desire of many Nigerians that the worth of their political leaders in terms of assets and liabilities would be made public to guard against corruption while in office has again been dashed. The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has refused to make public the assets declaration forms submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The duo had shortly before their inauguration fulfilled the constitutional requirements by declaring their assets to the CCB but reneged on an earlier pledge to publish same as former President Umar Musa Yar’Adua did in 2007. Following the public outcry that the issue generated, a civil society organisation, Centre for Social Justice, wrote to the CCB requesting that the contents of these forms be made public in line with the Freedom of Information Act. However, this request was turned down. Sections 1(1) 3 and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2011 guarantees the right of a person to access on request information, whether or not in written form, in the custody of any public agency.
Conversely, by virtue of Sections 12(1)(a)(v), 14(1)(b) and 15(1)(a) of the same Act, the Code of Conduct Bureau has power to decline a request which constitutes invasion of personal privacy. Assets declaration by public officers contain such personal information which falls within the exemptions to the disclosure of information in the FOIA.
The desire of many Nigerians that the worth of their political leaders in terms of assets and liabilities be made public to guard against corruption while in office has again been dashed. The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has refused to make public the assets declaration forms submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. The duo had shortly before their inauguration fulfilled the Constitutional requirements by declaring their assets to the CCB but reneged on an earlier pledge to publish same as former President Umar Musa Yar’Adua did in 2007.
Following the public outcries the issue generated, a civil society organisation, Centre for Social Justice, wrote to the CCB requesting that the contents of these forms be made public in line with the Freedom of Information Act. However, this request was turned down. Sections 1(1) 3 and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) 2011 guarantees the right of a person to access on request information, whether or not in written form, in the custody of any public agency. Conversely, by virtue of Sections 12(1)(a)(v), 14(1) (b) and 15(1)(a) of the same Act, the CCB has power to decline a request which constitutes invasion of personal privacy.
Assets declaration by public officers contain such personal information which falls within the exemptions to the disclosure of information in the FOIA. The letter marked CCB/ HQ/670/G/1/104 and dated June 10, 2015 was addressed to Stop Impunity Nigeria( SIN), Centre for Social Justice, Abuja. It read thus: “Re: Application pursuant to Freedom of Information Act, 2011 for copies of the Assets Declaration forms submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. “Please refer to your letter dated 1st June, 2015 Furthermore, paragraph 3(c) of the Third Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides that the Code of Conduct Bureau shall make assets declaration of public officers available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria only on terms of condition prescribed by the National Assembly.
However, the terms and conditions under which that can be done have not yet been prescribed by the National Assembly. In view of the aforementioned, the Bureau hereby declines your request.” The presidency had a couple of weeks ago said that President Buhari and his Vice-President Osinbajo will soon make the assets public as declared before the CCB. A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to the President Mallam Garba Shehu said in fulfilment of one of their campaign promises, his declared assets and those of Vice President will be released to the public upon the completion of their verification by CCB. The statement said “It is hoped that this process will be completed before the expiration of the 100-day deadline within which they said they would do this.
He 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.” The presidency explained that this clarification was warranted by the need to explain some suggestions that the President and the Vice-President may not, after all, declare their assets publicly.
“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.”
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