Lawyer Sues Buhari, Osinbajo Over Assets Declaration

 

Lagos—A lawyer and rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos over allegedly failure to keep to their promise to Nigerians during their electioneering campaigns to publicly declare their assets.

Akingbolu, who initiated the suit, is contending that by declaring their assets secretly, Buhari and Osinbajo have violated Section 172 and Section 11 (1) and (2) of the Code of Conduct for public officers under the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Other defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and the Code of
Conduct Bureau, CCB.

Buhari and Osinbajo had declared their assets to the CCB secretly, a development which drew public condemnation, with many insisting that it was a departure from the anti-corruption posture of the president and his vice.

Akingbolu, is asking the court to declare that it was mandatory for the CCB to publicly publish the assets of Buhari and Osinbajo.

He is further praying the court to declare that the secret declaration of assets by Buhari and Osinbajo was unconstitutional.

He also want the court to mandate them to publicly declare their assets in line with the Code of Conduct for public officers under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.

Akingbolu, in an affidavit in support of the suit, averred that Buhari and Osinbajo made it abundantly clear while canvassing for votes from Nigerians that they would publicly declare their assets in order to prove that they would run a transparent government.

He further averred that under the code of conduct, the President and the Vice President were duty as public officers to declare their assets publicly, and that the duo have breached the said stipulation by not publicly declaring their assets as dictated and mandated by the Constitution.

He added that the sad aspect of the development, was that the CCB “has been shielding Buhari and Osinbajo by not publicizing their purported declaration of assets in line with the law.”

“I know as a fact as a legal practitioner that Buhari and Osinbajo are duty bound to declare their assets publicly and it will be in the interest of justice, public peace and good governance to grant the reliefs in this suit,” he averred.