We Have No Powers To Declare President Buhari’s Assets Publicly But He Has Promised To Do So Himself – CCB

President Buhari

The Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Sam Saba, says the bureau has no legal powers to publicise assets declared by public officers. The bureau will therefore not make public details of President Muhammadu Buhari’s assets and that of his Vice.

Saba said this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, explaining that the mandate of the bureau was to ensure that the assets are declared and verified.

“We do not have power to make the assets declared by the president public,” he said.

However, he recalled that the president had assured Nigerians that he would make the declaration public later.

“The president has in a statement through his media aide said he will make his submissions public after the bureau has verified within his first 100 days in office,” he said.

“The CCB does not have the right to make anybody’s assets declaration available on pages of newspapers or online,” he said.

Saba attributed the failure of some public officers to declare their assets in line with the law, to their ignorance of the constitutional requirement.

“My message to public office holders is to study the constitution because I think in this country, we have poor reading habits.

“Most people come into public office in ignorance. They don’t know what the law provides and so, by the time you show them, they will tell you they do not know,” he added.

According to him, some public officers are also not aware that they are not supposed to operate foreign bank accounts.

“All these should have been taken into consideration when seeking election or appointment into public office.

“I believe that if people had read all these and were aware, it will help them to take decisions that will help them to serve the people,” he added.

President Buhari had prior to his election promised to declare his assets publicly but this has stalled as he maintained that the CCB had to verify before he goes public with the declaration.