Buhari, Osinbjo’s Asset Declaration, Deceptive – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted the release of the assets of President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Professor Yomi Osinbjo by the aides of the president.
The assets were released on Thursday, about three months after they were lodged with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

But the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Friday, described the asset declaration as “a deceptive window-dressing to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians.”
The statement said what the president’s aide did was a release of “a mere list of some belongings of President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,” in place of the pledge made to Nigerians by Mr. President as candidate of the APC on March 18.

It observed that President Buhari and his vice failed to produce copies of their declarations, detailing the exact nature and value of respective assets contrary to the president’s promise “to publicly declare my assets and liability and also encourage my political appointees to publicly declare their assets and liability.”

PDP noted that the action of the president and his vice fell short of credibility, transparency and anti-corruption standards as well as exposes the proclivity of the present administration for deception.
“We have noted the release of a flimsy list of belongings of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo by the Presidency, who want such to pass as the public declaration of assets as pledged by the President.

“Nigerians are not deceived by this poor attempt at window-dressing designed by the Presidency to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace in a
desperate bid to shore up its diminished image.

“We ask, is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance with their widely observed inclination for flip flopping, back tracking and brazen denials of their statements and actions?” the statement added.
The party expressed desire for credibility, integrity and sincerity of purpose, but added: “We are not questioning how a President, who by December last year, declared that he had only N1 million in his account, could suddenly now list N30 million in the same bank account by May 29, and after an expensive campaign; we are not yet demanding the public declaration of his assets in his wife’s name.”