The Coalition Against Corrupt leaders, CACOL, has condemned the stand of the All Progressives Congress Governors on public declaration of assets.

This came on the heels of statement by the Governors who said they will not follow the example laid by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in declaring their assets publicly.

It was reported in some sections of the media that the APC governors claimed it is not compulsory for them to declare their assets publicly and that they would not be pressured to follow the president’s action. According to them, there is no law mandating them to publicly state their worth in terms of property and cash.

Reacting to the news, the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran condemned the governors’ excuses that public declaration of assets is not constitutional.

“It is preposterous that governors who rode on the back of President Buhari’s integrity to victory could turn around to claim they are not under obligation to follow in his footstep as regards public declaration of assets. Even if the constitution doesn’t make it mandatory for public office holders to make assets declaration public, why couldn’t they do it on morality ground? It is morally wrong for any governor to hide under one ambiguity of the constitution to defend public declaration of assets.

It is a known fact that public assets declaration, which is a standard practice in the developed world, increases transparency and the trust of citizens in their elected representatives. As a matter of fact, politicians and public exposed persons who disclose information about their assets show that they have nothing to hide.

It is important to repeat for the umpteenth time that asset declaration is one of the many tools that can help curb the pervasive corruption ravaging this country. It would also translate into a clear evidence of seriousness and sincerity on the part of our politicians in their quest to fighting and eradicating corruption from our land. The stand of the governors is highly reprehensible and must be condemned by every well-meaning Nigerian.

”The anti-corruption czar however advised the governor to emulate the President if they would have their names in the good book of the country.

“The governors should follow suit and declare their assets publicly whether they are first term or 2^nd term governors. The nation is watching and all political leaders should take a cue from whatever pattern President Buhari shows.

Public disclosure of assets is crucial for ensuring that public officials’ personal interests as the leaders of the nation, do not conflict with their duties and responsibilities. It also helps to provide a baseline and thus means for comparison to identify assets that may have been corruptly acquired and that a public official may legitimately be asked to account for.

We are therefore urging the president to urgently take measures to seek amendment of the law relating to declaration of assets to include the requirement of public disclosure so as to bring it in line with international standards and best practices such as the UN Convention against Corruption. The president must also ensure that all those to work with him declare their assets openly to enable Nigerians monitor them.”

Temitope Macjob

Acting Media Officer, CACOL

temitope@thehumanitycenter.org

cacolc@yahoo.com

08029215000

12^th September, 2015

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at

www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org

on September 7, 2015

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, has called on Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to declare their assets, same way President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo did last week.

CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran, told The Punch that the current anti-corruption drive of the All Progressives Congress-led government would not be complete unless those occupying public offices could prove that they had not illegally enriched themselves.

He said, “Specifically, the principal officers of the National Assembly must declare their assets starting from the Senate President. All ministers and those who will work directly with the President such as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the President’s Chief of Staff must also declare their assets publicly.

“That is how we will know that they have clean hands. Otherwise, they will become conduit pipes through which money will be siphoned from the public purse. Without such declaration, nobody knows how much they might have made after leaving office.”

Adeniran added that the wives and children of public office holders must also be subjected to similar scrutiny.

He added, “It is now the norm that anyone that wants to serve in any position of leadership of the present administration to publicly declare his or her assets because already, we have doubts about how much these individuals have made over the years.

“We want to know how much they are worth and have a benchmark with which we would measure what they would declare at the end of their tenure. Their spouses, children and siblings should also declare their assets since they enjoy whatever must have been received by the public officials.”

Source: Daily Post.

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders says it is the turn of the number three citizen in the country, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President Senator Ekweremadu, the Speaker of the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara and all public exposed persons (PEPs) including governors, ministers and those who work directly with the President such as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the President’s Chief of Staff should declare their assets and make it public to lead by example.

The declaration of assets is what we have described as non-prosecutorial way of fighting corruption; it is leading by example. There cannot be accountability, transparency and probity if we do not have a baseline with which we can determine how right or wrong the public officials have performed their duties while in office and how to measure their net-worth at the point of exit. “It is only through this process that we would be able to determine if their hands are clean; otherwise, they could easily become conduit pipes through which money will be siphoned from the public purse.

The current anti-corruption drive of the All Progressives Congress-led government would not be complete unless those occupying public offices can prove that they have not illegally enriched themselves. Once the leader has taken up the gullet, the followers need not be persuaded to do the same if they have not done so.

We expect every public exposed person (PEP) to publicly declare his assets including his spouses and even his children because they naturally are going to be beneficiaries of whatever their principal makes while in public office. This will enable Nigerians to compare and contrast their net-worth at the point of entering with that at the point of exit.

We see that Shehu Sani has taken the queue after the President and the VP; an action we believe has thrown a challenge of integrity at the likes of the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai, who is currently contending with allegations of corrupt accumulation of assets. He should come out in the open to let us know if he has as much as has been ascribed to him.

We are also using this opportunity to ask the regime to amend the laws that set up the CCB to henceforth make public declaration of assets compelling as applicable. Unless it is made public, information contained in the forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau may not be easily accessible to every member of the public wishing to verify its authenticity since not everybody has the resources to go to court to challenge the CCB if the latter refuses or fails to oblige.

“He who cannot stand the heat should not go into the kitchen, if you don’t want to get wet, don’t jump into the water”. So basically once they have decided to serve in public office, they should ensure that everything about them, their spouses, their children, their sibling and other dependants are made totally open to all so that we have a baseline with which we can measure their accumulations while their period in office lasts”.

Democracy presupposes that public officers are employees of the people; their allegiance to their employers is not negotiable. It’s therefore incumbent upon them to give account of their stewardship to the same people that employed them ad this include, public declaration of what they had when coming in and what they have when going out.

Temitope Macjob

Acting Media Officer, CACOL

temitope@thehumanitycenter.org

cacolc@yahoo.com

08029215000

8^th September, 2015

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL has said that the issue of whether or not Buhari’s 100 days in office should be treated as a tradition for performance score-card, in its view, shouldn’t be a subject of contention at all.

This came on the heels of a response to questions about a report on documents titled “One Hundred Things Buhari will do in 100 Days” and “My Covenant with Nigerians” which was contained in statement made available by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, that President Muhammadu Buhari did not promise Nigerians that he would achieve specific things within his first 100 days in office.

The Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, speaking on behalf of the coalition stressed that “having read and listened to the spate of contentious positions taken by those we want to describe as pro and anti Buhari’s voices, we would want to ask President Buhari to remember the prevailing political atmosphere under which he was voted in by Nigerians, as the man competent and trusted to confront the country’s enormous, yet multi-faceted problems. Electorates believed that he has the required courage and guts to perform and achieve the desired result, hence he should avoid, in every way possible, being eroded into adopting or formulating policies that could be seeing to be anti-people.”

However, Nigerians voted for change and that simply means that they were dissatisfied with the ways the country was being run then and had yearned for a shift from the status quo. “That President Buhari has been in the saddle for 100 days is a fact; that certain promises were made either directly by him or by his party, the APC, during his electioneering campaign, is also a fact. Justifiably so, Nigerians reserve the moral right to demand that he delivers on those promises.

Speaking further, Adeniran said “It therefore behoves who promised to either begin to deliver on the promises right-away or at least, begin to say something to these same people, about his mode of operation or measures through which he intends to address pressing issues. He could even open up with his blue-print on action plans on certain aspects of his programme. And if he believes that he has, within this relatively little time, put in place certain things, whether conclusively or in process, we do not see anything wrong in coming out to brandish his score-card for all to see”.

The group further said, “Proactive effort is one thing, result is another; but whichever way it comes, would certainly be better than a disturbing silence that could only open the door for unnecessary bickering, presumptions and insinuations among contending interest groups.

Granted that Buhari never hinged his pre-election promises on a specified time-frame, as the APC is trying to remind the people, the fact still remains that promises such as:

1. Public declaration of assets;
2. A free meal per day for school pupils;

• N5, 000 monthly allowance for the unemployed; and so on, were made.

“The party, APC was alive and active when those speaking for the party were making pronouncement on the now contentious issue of 100 days during electioneering campaigns, and neither was any disclaimer issued nor any counter-statement made by the party then, so, why now? APC cannot claim ignorance of the age-long tradition of 100-days-in-office assessment of performance of top political office holders; it’s been with us for quite a while now.

The Coalition has been consistent in its position on some of these promises that President Buhari or the APC does not necessarily need to make it a political issue before acting on them. For instance; issues like that of public declaration of assets, could have just been done by Buhari and his vice without much ado as it would only translate into a clear evidence of seriousness and sincerity on their part, in their quest to fighting and eradicating corruption from our land.

Whilst the group appreciates the recent public declaration of assets by the President and his vice, it should be acknowledged as a right step in the right direction as this will go a long way in strengthening the confidence that the Nigerian public has in them and further underscore the exemplary posture of the duo. This singular gesture which we wish would constitute a benchmark for successive regimes, we want to believe, would implicitly serve as a window-opener to series of ‘change’ that are to trail the life of this administration. However, we want to further call on President Buhari and his party not to relent at ensuring that every other aspect of their promises is fulfilled without much ado.

The Coalition further advised that, “rather than making unnecessary issue out of the credibility of the source that spoke on behalf of the party, APC or Buhari should just go ahead to tell Nigerians what he’s been able to do so far. Well, for whatever it is worth, “we want to believe that for the past 100 days in office, President Buhari couldn’t have been idle, he certainly must have been doing some things; let him tell his people now”, Debo Adeniran inferred.

Temtiope Macjob

Acting Media Officer, CACOL

temitope@thehumanitycenter.org

cacolc@yahoo.com

08029215000

4^th September, 2015

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org