……. says he has declared his assets four times as a public official
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that all elected public officials and top civil servants in the category of permanent secretaries will be declaring their assets.
He stated this on Monday in Ghana where he had gone on a one-day working visit to President John Dramani Mahama.
It will be recalled that the president last week made public his assets alongside his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Buhari was responding to a question from the Ghanaian press during a joint press conference with Mahama after bilateral talks at the Peduase Lodge in Aburi on how he could impress it on other African leaders and public office holders to emulate him by making assets declaration a priority in governance.
Buhari said assets declaration had been engrained in the Nigerian Constitution, saying he had done such four times since 1975 that he had served the country in various capacities.
“I recall that in 1975 when late Murtala Mohammed became the Head of State, we were lined up in the corridor – governors, ministers, members of the Supreme Military Council – and officials of Ministry of Justice were brought and every individual was made to declare his assets.
“So right now, all heads of state and government, governors, ministers, permanent secretaries will have to declare their assets because it is a constitutional requirement.
“In Nigeria, it is a constitutional issue and that is why I am blaming you gentlemen of the press. If you really want to do investigative journalism, you don’t have to worry me at this stage; I have declared my assets four times.
“When I was governor in 1975, I declared. After being Minister of Petroleum and as a member of Supreme Military Council, I declared. When I was Head of State and now as a President, I also declared.
“I have declared my assets and all that I have four times, and you (the media) have the right to go and demand for my declaration. Instead, I am being harassed.”
Buhari also challenged Nigerian journalists to go and look for details of his assets declaration instead of harassing him with further questions.
He said since he had declared his assets four times since 1975 that he had served in different capacities in the country, the journalists could be more investigative in their work if they could fish out the details.
Buhari said journalists who had been heckling him to publish the details of what he recently declared could do better by just using the law to dig up the records of his four separate declarations since 1975.