Governors rush to declare their assets in response to Buhari's anti-corruption war

ALL of Nigeria's 36 governors have hurriedly rushed to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to declare their assets to avoid prosecution in response to President Muhammadu Buhari's ongoing fight against corruption.

 

Voted into office to clear up corruption and end the incessant graft in Nigerian public life, President Buhari has been clamping down on kleptomania since assuming the presidency on May 29. He has also been trying to get public officers to abide by the rule of law and follow constitutional requirements, which include declaring their assets upon assuming office

 

President Buhari and vice president Yemi Osinbajo have declared their assets as stipulated by the constitution, filling in the necessary CCB forms. With anti-graft agencies clamping down on former government officials getting them to account for monies spent by them while in office, all the current governors have decided to declare their assets to the CCB too.

 

Apparently, the bureau has started investigating the claims in the assets declaration forms of the governors. None of the governors has chosen to make the list of their assets public, so the probe of the declared assets might take some months to complete.

 

It is believed that the CCB is expecting all the governors to close down their foreign accounts in line with Nigeria's constitutional requirements. One CCB source, said that the swift response from the governors and their deputies to declare their assets was unprecedented despite the fact that they have up to three months to do so.

 

One CCB source said: “From our compilation so far, all the governors have declared their assets. This is the first time we are experiencing full compliance by the governors because of the anti-corruption policy of President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

“In spite of the fact that the law allows the governors to declare their assets within three months, they have all rushed to fulfil this constitutional obligation. I think they were all responding to the spur of the moment on anti-graft war and we are happy that the governors have emulated the President and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.”

 

He added that from what has been filed so far, none of the 36 governors has less than N100m (£323,000) worth of assets. According to the official, the CCB has started verifying the assets of the governors to find out whether or not they were truthful in their assets declaration forms.