President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the 44 ministers in the Federal Executive Council will soon start declaring their assets ahead of May 29 when their tenure will end.
The Special Adviser to the CCB Chairman on General Duties, Dr Mustapha Musa, confirmed on Sunday that the necessary arrangements had been made for the issuance of the assets forms to the outgoing officials and their successors.
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Also, the outgoing presidential aides, 28 state governors and their cabinet members, National Assembly and state assembly members and local government chairmen will equally obtain the assets declaration forms from the Code of Conduct Bureau and submit the same to the CCB in line with the 1999 constitution.
This complies with the provision of the constitution which stipulates that all public officers shall declare their assets and liabilities on the assumption of office and at the end of their tenure of office.
However, the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima and 28 incoming governors and their cabinet members as well as the state assembly members have three months to submit their assets forms to the CCB.
They are also required to state all properties and assets acquired within or outside the country with the value of the said assets in the currency of the country where the property is situated.
Assets declaration
The CCB chairman’s aide explained that the concerned officials were required to obtain the forms from the CCB office and declare all their assets, including money, landed property, vehicles, shares, bonds and others and the sources of the assets.
Musa stated;
They (officials) are expected to declare all their assets at the point of exit, at the point of leaving office. That’s what the law says. They will submit the forms when leaving the office, you cannot submit assets declaration forms while in office.
So, it is at the point of entrance and point of exit. That is what the constitution says, that is what the Code of Conduct Bureau Act says under section 15. The same thing applies to those who are about to come into government but they have three months to declare.
The SA disclosed that the assets declaration forms were available online, adding that the bureau would soon digitalise the declaration process.
Musa noted;
The officials are expected to get the forms from the bureau and in fact, they can even go online. We cannot stop issuing the forms because they are online but very soon, we will stop the hard copy and ask them to make their declaration online.
When asked if the outgoing officials have been coming for the forms, he said;
It depends on the mindset but because the law says at the point of exit, so if they pick it now, they cannot submit it until they are about to leave the office. They still have two months to go, so even if they fill out the forms now, they cannot give them to us.
