PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari would not declare his assets publicly because there is no law that mandates him to do so, Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina has said.
Adesina was reacting to the demand of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) asking President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the 36 state governors to make their assets public in seven days.
SERAP had in its statement on Sunday, maintained that the non-disclosure by the officials “seriously undermines the effectiveness and integrity of the constitutional and statutory obligations to submit asset declarations.”
‘Not true’
However, Adesina featuring on Channels TV Politics Today on Monday, said no law compelled his principal to make public his assets in his second term.
He said such a decision to make the assets public “is voluntary will and not a compulsion.”
“The president will do what the law requires of him and I can say for a fact that the president has declared his assets.
“Declaring that publicly is not in our law but voluntary. Therefore, he cannot be compelled to do so,” he said.
But Adesina’s claim runs contrary to the provision of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) that vested the right of anyone to request information in the custody of any public official, agency or institution, with the exception of security files which are not of public concern.
He however, added, that “If FOI Act is invoked, it will be left with the Code of Conduct Bureau to release such information. The president has declared and already deposited the documents to them. So, it’s left to them to make such a decision,” he argued.
The Code of Conduct Bureau had in the past refused to disclose such information saying it was not mandated by law to do so.
