PT: During his maiden media chat, President Muhammadu Buhari had said you have the power to release his asset declaration document to us in PREMIUM TIMES. Would you be willing now to release the documents to us, just as the president said on live television?
I will give you a very simple answer. He said you are free but who is free? Is the CCB free? The law does not say I should release anybody’s asset declaration. The document does not become public document after declaration, it is only the CCB that is allowed by the constitution to retain custody of such documents. That is what the CCB Act says. Besides, Schedule 3, Paragraph 3 (c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended says the bureau shall have power to retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe.
PT: And the National Assembly has in the Freedom of Information Act, prescribed that we can have access to such public document. In fact, we have already written to you. Would you oblige us now?
We answered you. Go and read your letter again. And we gave you answers as it was provided for in the FOI Act. Study the response again and compare it with these sections and you will know what I am talking about.
PT: Was the president wrong in insisting that the document should be made public? Remember late President Umaru Yar’Adua published his own based on an earlier promise. Why did you not stop him at the time?
Because he did not come to us. He just did it. And let me tell you something about late President Yar’Adua. He was already used to doing so even when he was governor. So for him, it was a normal thing. And he did not need anybody’s advice to publish it. That was his business. It has nothing to do with me. I know one director general who has put his own asset declaration on his website. He did it willingly and he told us that he just decided to do it on his own. So, it is a matter of choice. If you are a public officer and you want everybody to know about it, you can do the same.
PT: Don’t you think that is a virtue that should be encouraged?
Yes, we encourage it
PT: But if you encourage it and President Buhari said on national television that you have powers to release his own document, don’t you think you would be standing on the way of probity and transparency you are talking about?
Did the president say he has written to CCB and said ‘go and make my declarations public?’
PT: Are you saying he has to write officially to CCB before you can release the document he promised to make public during electioneering campaigns?
But the President has already declared his assets his assets are there; if there is anything in it he has not disclosed, you should have asked him specific questions.
Credits: Premium Times
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