EFCC And Other Regulatory Agencies’ Powers To Enforce Declaration Of Assets (Part 2)

TALKING CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY BY MIKE
OZEKHOME,SAN

Introduction

Last week, I commenced our discourse of this vexed national
issue of asset declaration. Who are those Nigerians who must
declare their assets? Under what conditions or laws? What powers,
if any, do anti-graft agencies and other monetary financial
regulatory bodies have, in compelling such group of Nigerians to
declare their assets? I shall dwell on this topic for some time,
and do a global comparative analysis.

Assets Declaration: The Nigerian Example

When Yar’Adua Broke the Jinx

Late President Umaru Yar’ Adua was the only President ever in
Nigeria, to have publicly declared his assets on June 28, 2007,
less than a month after assuming office as Nigerian President.
President Yar’Adua made public photocopies of his duly and honestly
completed assets declaration form, through his Special Adviser on
Communications, Mr Segun Adeniyi.

In an unprecedented step by any Nigerian President since
independence, Yar’ Adua declared N856.4m (which included N19m
belonging to the then First Lady) Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua.

His total liabilities being outstanding loans secured with the
Unity Bank Plc, Imani Estate Branch, Maitama, Abuja, was put at
N88,793,269.77

The bulk of the President’s assets included remunerations,
savings, campaigns, post-campaign contributions, buildings and
vacant plots of land, farms and orchard, cash at hand and vehicles
located in his home State and Abuja. The President disclosed that,
he had no foreign accounts or assets.

On September 3, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, declared their assets before the Code
of Conduct Bureau (CCB). According to the report, details of the
President’s assets declared included less than N30m cash; one Union
Bank account; shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank;
five homes in Daura, Kaduna and Abuja; two plots of land in Kano
and Port Harcourt; Farms, an orchard and a ranch; 270 head of
cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, birds, trees; Cars, two of which he
bought from his savings, and the others supplied to him by the
Federal Government in his capacity as former Head of State.

We did not get to have a glimpse of his 2019 assets (assuming he
did declare). The CCB never told Nigerians. Nor did the President
and his megaphones, who had made integrity his mantra. On the other
hand, in 2015, the Vice President’s assets included N94m and
$900,000 in his bank accounts; 4-bedroom residence at Victoria
Garden City, Lagos and a 3-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi, a
2-bedroom flat at Redemption Camp and a 2-bedroom mortgaged
property in Bedford, England; Law firm, known as SimmonsCooper;
Shares I Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa,
Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd., MTN; Infinity SUV, Mercedes Benz and a
Prado Jeep.

Public declaration of assets by President Buhari and the Vice
President Osinbajo, was very significant for so many reasons. Both
they and their party, APC, had made the issue a subject-matter of
campaign, during the build up to the 2015 Presidential
elections.

Nigerians could swear on their ancestors’ graves that Buhari was
going to declare his assets publicly, at least to follow the worthy
precedent set by Yar’Adua, his predecessor in office. This is
because having made eradication (or at least, curtailment) of
corruption one of his tripodal cardinal campaign promises (I do not
know if he has fulfilled any of them at all, or do you?), it was
expected that he would lead by example by declaring his assets
publicly.

Indeed, asset and interest disclosure has become a key front
burner global anti-corruption issue, that engages the attention of
the whole world. It was expected that once the number one and
number two citizens declared their assets publicly, nothing
prevented any other public official from following suit. All
categories of public officials, would then have a heavy moral and
legal burden to publicly declare their assets. Assets declaration
represents a veritable tool for transparency in governance, and
important hallmark of the democratic tradition in all civilised
nations of the world.

The international community considers asset declaration, as a
tool for transparency. This is evidenced by its inclusion in the UN
Convention Against Corruption.

The Buhari Scenario

There was later to be a clash, between fiery Catholic Bishop of
Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, and the Special Assistant
to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, over the
reluctance of President Buhari to publicly declare his assets and
liabilities upon taking the oath of office.

At the launch of a book in which he was guest lecturer, Bishop
Kukah had queried: “People have asked how is it that the President
used Justice Onnoghen’s asset declaration form to prove his
corruption and proceeded to sack him, yet the President himself has
not publicly declared his own assets as he promised during his
campaigns? Kukah was the guest lecturer at the launch of a book,
“Farida Waziri: One Step Ahead: Life as a Spy, Detective and
Anti-Graft Czar.” In reaction to Kukah’s remark, Adesina as usual
had defended his principal, by stating that Buhari never promised
Nigerians he would declare his assets publicly. Buhari had
therefore, not broken any law by not doing so, he argued,
tongue-in-cheek.

But, unlike Buhari, his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had in 2015,
followed Yar’Adua’s footsteps. He expressed solidarity with
Nigerians, when he publicly declared his assets and liabilities. He
even desired that his salary be slashed by half. At that time also,
Buhari had rejected a proposal to purchase five customised armoured
Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars at the cost of about N400 million.
Nigerians had embraced this tokenism, as showcasing a man of
seeming frugality and simplicity. The unsuspecting public believed
then that he was a man with a high sense of moral probity, and one
who would kick corruption by the ass. Nigerians had therefore.
assumed that Buhari would publicly declare his assets. But, he
failed them. His being welcomed back to Nigeria by Kaakaki (flute)
trumpeters at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport,
Abuja, on many occasions after his several foreign medical trips
did not help matters. It worsened them. Nigeria saw a President,
undergoing incredible metamorphosis.

In his compilation of over 80 of Buhari and APC’s campaign
promises and what the then candidate Buhari would do in his 100
days if he became President, as published in The Cable, Buhari had
maintained his commitment not only to publicly declare his assets,
but that he would encourage his political appointees to do same
publicly.

Even months after Buhari became President; Adesina had admitted
that this promise was made. Surprisingly, he was later to argue
that it was made by the President’s party, the All Progressives
Congress (APC), and not Buhari as a candidate. Hear! Hear!! Hear!!!
A political party cannot be separated from its candidate. They are
Siamese twins. That is why under Sections 65(2)(b), 106 and 131 of
the 1999 Constitution, a candidate must run under the platform of a
political party. He cannot run alone.

Buhari himself had however, firmly stood by his campaign promise
roughly a month before Adesina made his weird, illogical
suggestion. Through a statement released by his senior spokesman,
Garba Shehu in June, 2015, Buhari had maintained that details of
his declaration would be made public soon after the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB) had completed verifying them. Said Shehu:

“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification
exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to have
been made and validated; and only after this, will the details be
released to the public.

“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice
President are committed to public declaration of their assets,
within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential
campaign.”

Buhari’s Later Public but Partial Disclosure of
Assets

In September, 2015, bowing to intense pressure from and national
hoopla by watchful Nigerians, the Presidency very reluctantly
publicised only some of Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s
assets.

In May, 2019, before his second-term inauguration, President
Buhari submitted a second set of asset declaration forms to the
CCB, not to the public. According to Shehu, they “showed no
significant changes in assets as declared in 2015 by him”. Oh,
really? Could he swear on the Holy Quran, that Buhari of 2015 was
exactly the same Buhari of 2019? With even his wife, Hajia accusing
his security guards of stealing humongous sums from her?

In the polemics between Kukah and Adesina, the issue at stake
was whether the law should only be seen in the letter, and not in
the spirit also. To me, public declaration of assets goes beyond
mere routine legalism and intellectual gymnastics. It is even more
so, an issue of moral rectitude, transparency and accountability in
leadership. It is not only captured in fixed Hamurabi’s tablet, it
is better demonstrated in the spirit of the law, through actions
and deeds. After all, actions speak louder than words. Leaders must
walk the talk.

I had maintained this stance as far back as June 6, 2015, barely
one week after Buhari took oath as President of Nigeria. In a write
up by New Telegraph of that date, titled, “Sagay, Ozekhome fault
Buhari, Osinbajo on Assets Declaration…… Lawyers split over Buhari,
Osinbajo Assets Declaration”, the paper had written:

“Constitutional Lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, urged
President Buhari to declare his assets publicly, in conformity with
his campaign promises of breaking away from the old order. He
reminded the President that Nigerians now have a long memory, and
would watch him closely. “I think President Buhari should realise
that all the promises he made with his party, the APC, constitute a
check list that Nigerians are keeping closely with a biro at hand
ready to tick either performed, or not performed. I wouldn’t want
to believe that some of the promises he made were empty words
customised to get votes from Nigerians, and then refrains from them
later.”

Yar’Adua was Refreshingly Different

Though he died prematurely in office, Yar’Adua would still be
remembered for five major thrusts in the Nigerian polity, for which
his name is inerasable from Nigeria’s annals. He termed himself the
(“servant leader) when he launched his Presidential campaign in
2006. And this humble son of Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, first Republic
Minister for Lagos Affairs, lived his promise, maintaining a very
low profile till he died in office in 2010. Secondly, Yar’Adua
publicly declared his assets, because he said he had nothing to
hide after being a two-term Governor of Katsina State between 1999
and 2007. Thirdly, Yar’Adua set up the Justice Muhammadu Uwais
Electoral Reform Panel, whose white paper indeed, led to some
electoral reforms.

This is because he had publicly acknowledged, during his May 29,
2007 swearing-in ceremony, that the election that threw him up as
President was flawed. This man must be resting in Aljannah
Firdaus.

Fourthly, Yar’Adua, in fulfilment of one of his
seven-point-agenda (the others were critical infrastructure, the
Niger Delta Food Security, Human Capital Development, Land Tenure
Reform, National Security and Intelligence, and Wealth Creation),
gave amnesty to the then restless Niger Delta militants. The
politicians had literally grounded exploration and exploitation of
oil, in their agitation for a just economic order and fair
treatment on matters concerning oil and gas, their God-given
wealth.

Lastly, Yar’Adua excelled in his Rule of Law practice, as the
bedrock of democracy. Although Rule of Law is presumably a given in
any constitutional democracy, Yar’Adua came out clearly and made it
his mantra. Under his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo,
rule of law meant different things to different people and classes
of citizens. A court judgement was only obeyed, as interpreted by
imperial President Obasanjo. Due Processes were seamlessly bypassed
in impeachment of Governors, such as Fayose and Dariye. The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had become a law
unto itself, contrary to its motto, “No one is above the law”. This
was later ignited under President Buhari. But, Yar’Adua distanced
himself from these ugly anti-people practices. He promised to
uphold the rule of law, at all times. He actually started
implementing court judgements. He swiftly restored Peter Obi to
office as the Governor of Anambra State in 2007, after a court
judgement. He stuck to due process, in his governance template.
Yar’Adua is gone. But, he remains in our hearts. (To be
continued).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“Fighting corruption is not just good governance.
It’s self-defence. It’s patriotism”. (Joe Biden)

TALKING CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY BY MIKE
OZEKHOME,SAN

Introduction

Last week, I commenced our discourse of this vexed national
issue of asset declaration. Who are those Nigerians who must
declare their assets? Under what conditions or laws? What powers,
if any, do anti-graft agencies and other monetary financial
regulatory bodies have, in compelling such group of Nigerians to
declare their assets? I shall dwell on this topic for some time,
and do a global comparative analysis.

Assets Declaration: The Nigerian Example

When Yar’Adua Broke the Jinx

Late President Umaru Yar’ Adua was the only President ever in
Nigeria, to have publicly declared his assets on June 28, 2007,
less than a month after assuming office as Nigerian President.
President Yar’Adua made public photocopies of his duly and honestly
completed assets declaration form, through his Special Adviser on
Communications, Mr Segun Adeniyi.

In an unprecedented step by any Nigerian President since
independence, Yar’ Adua declared N856.4m (which included N19m
belonging to the then First Lady) Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua.

His total liabilities being outstanding loans secured with the
Unity Bank Plc, Imani Estate Branch, Maitama, Abuja, was put at
N88,793,269.77

The bulk of the President’s assets included remunerations,
savings, campaigns, post-campaign contributions, buildings and
vacant plots of land, farms and orchard, cash at hand and vehicles
located in his home State and Abuja. The President disclosed that,
he had no foreign accounts or assets.

On September 3, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, declared their assets before the Code
of Conduct Bureau (CCB). According to the report, details of the
President’s assets declared included less than N30m cash; one Union
Bank account; shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank;
five homes in Daura, Kaduna and Abuja; two plots of land in Kano
and Port Harcourt; Farms, an orchard and a ranch; 270 head of
cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, birds, trees; Cars, two of which he
bought from his savings, and the others supplied to him by the
Federal Government in his capacity as former Head of State.

We did not get to have a glimpse of his 2019 assets (assuming he
did declare). The CCB never told Nigerians. Nor did the President
and his megaphones, who had made integrity his mantra. On the other
hand, in 2015, the Vice President’s assets included N94m and
$900,000 in his bank accounts; 4-bedroom residence at Victoria
Garden City, Lagos and a 3-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi, a
2-bedroom flat at Redemption Camp and a 2-bedroom mortgaged
property in Bedford, England; Law firm, known as SimmonsCooper;
Shares I Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa,
Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd., MTN; Infinity SUV, Mercedes Benz and a
Prado Jeep.

Public declaration of assets by President Buhari and the Vice
President Osinbajo, was very significant for so many reasons. Both
they and their party, APC, had made the issue a subject-matter of
campaign, during the build up to the 2015 Presidential
elections.

Nigerians could swear on their ancestors’ graves that Buhari was
going to declare his assets publicly, at least to follow the worthy
precedent set by Yar’Adua, his predecessor in office. This is
because having made eradication (or at least, curtailment) of
corruption one of his tripodal cardinal campaign promises (I do not
know if he has fulfilled any of them at all, or do you?), it was
expected that he would lead by example by declaring his assets
publicly.

Indeed, asset and interest disclosure has become a key front
burner global anti-corruption issue, that engages the attention of
the whole world. It was expected that once the number one and
number two citizens declared their assets publicly, nothing
prevented any other public official from following suit. All
categories of public officials, would then have a heavy moral and
legal burden to publicly declare their assets. Assets declaration
represents a veritable tool for transparency in governance, and
important hallmark of the democratic tradition in all civilised
nations of the world.

The international community considers asset declaration, as a
tool for transparency. This is evidenced by its inclusion in the UN
Convention Against Corruption.

The Buhari Scenario

There was later to be a clash, between fiery Catholic Bishop of
Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, and the Special Assistant
to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, over the
reluctance of President Buhari to publicly declare his assets and
liabilities upon taking the oath of office.

At the launch of a book in which he was guest lecturer, Bishop
Kukah had queried: “People have asked how is it that the President
used Justice Onnoghen’s asset declaration form to prove his
corruption and proceeded to sack him, yet the President himself has
not publicly declared his own assets as he promised during his
campaigns? Kukah was the guest lecturer at the launch of a book,
“Farida Waziri: One Step Ahead: Life as a Spy, Detective and
Anti-Graft Czar.” In reaction to Kukah’s remark, Adesina as usual
had defended his principal, by stating that Buhari never promised
Nigerians he would declare his assets publicly. Buhari had
therefore, not broken any law by not doing so, he argued,
tongue-in-cheek.

But, unlike Buhari, his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had in 2015,
followed Yar’Adua’s footsteps. He expressed solidarity with
Nigerians, when he publicly declared his assets and liabilities. He
even desired that his salary be slashed by half. At that time also,
Buhari had rejected a proposal to purchase five customised armoured
Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars at the cost of about N400 million.
Nigerians had embraced this tokenism, as showcasing a man of
seeming frugality and simplicity. The unsuspecting public believed
then that he was a man with a high sense of moral probity, and one
who would kick corruption by the ass. Nigerians had therefore.
assumed that Buhari would publicly declare his assets. But, he
failed them. His being welcomed back to Nigeria by Kaakaki (flute)
trumpeters at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport,
Abuja, on many occasions after his several foreign medical trips
did not help matters. It worsened them. Nigeria saw a President,
undergoing incredible metamorphosis.

In his compilation of over 80 of Buhari and APC’s campaign
promises and what the then candidate Buhari would do in his 100
days if he became President, as published in The Cable, Buhari had
maintained his commitment not only to publicly declare his assets,
but that he would encourage his political appointees to do same
publicly.

Even months after Buhari became President; Adesina had admitted
that this promise was made. Surprisingly, he was later to argue
that it was made by the President’s party, the All Progressives
Congress (APC), and not Buhari as a candidate. Hear! Hear!! Hear!!!
A political party cannot be separated from its candidate. They are
Siamese twins. That is why under Sections 65(2)(b), 106 and 131 of
the 1999 Constitution, a candidate must run under the platform of a
political party. He cannot run alone.

Buhari himself had however, firmly stood by his campaign promise
roughly a month before Adesina made his weird, illogical
suggestion. Through a statement released by his senior spokesman,
Garba Shehu in June, 2015, Buhari had maintained that details of
his declaration would be made public soon after the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB) had completed verifying them. Said Shehu:

“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification
exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to have
been made and validated; and only after this, will the details be
released to the public.

“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice
President are committed to public declaration of their assets,
within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential
campaign.”

Buhari’s Later Public but Partial Disclosure of
Assets

In September, 2015, bowing to intense pressure from and national
hoopla by watchful Nigerians, the Presidency very reluctantly
publicised only some of Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s
assets.

In May, 2019, before his second-term inauguration, President
Buhari submitted a second set of asset declaration forms to the
CCB, not to the public. According to Shehu, they “showed no
significant changes in assets as declared in 2015 by him”. Oh,
really? Could he swear on the Holy Quran, that Buhari of 2015 was
exactly the same Buhari of 2019? With even his wife, Hajia accusing
his security guards of stealing humongous sums from her?

In the polemics between Kukah and Adesina, the issue at stake
was whether the law should only be seen in the letter, and not in
the spirit also. To me, public declaration of assets goes beyond
mere routine legalism and intellectual gymnastics. It is even more
so, an issue of moral rectitude, transparency and accountability in
leadership. It is not only captured in fixed Hamurabi’s tablet, it
is better demonstrated in the spirit of the law, through actions
and deeds. After all, actions speak louder than words. Leaders must
walk the talk.

I had maintained this stance as far back as June 6, 2015, barely
one week after Buhari took oath as President of Nigeria. In a write
up by New Telegraph of that date, titled, “Sagay, Ozekhome fault
Buhari, Osinbajo on Assets Declaration…… Lawyers split over Buhari,
Osinbajo Assets Declaration”, the paper had written:

“Constitutional Lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, urged
President Buhari to declare his assets publicly, in conformity with
his campaign promises of breaking away from the old order. He
reminded the President that Nigerians now have a long memory, and
would watch him closely. “I think President Buhari should realise
that all the promises he made with his party, the APC, constitute a
check list that Nigerians are keeping closely with a biro at hand
ready to tick either performed, or not performed. I wouldn’t want
to believe that some of the promises he made were empty words
customised to get votes from Nigerians, and then refrains from them
later.”

Yar’Adua was Refreshingly Different

Though he died prematurely in office, Yar’Adua would still be
remembered for five major thrusts in the Nigerian polity, for which
his name is inerasable from Nigeria’s annals. He termed himself the
(“servant leader) when he launched his Presidential campaign in
2006. And this humble son of Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, first Republic
Minister for Lagos Affairs, lived his promise, maintaining a very
low profile till he died in office in 2010. Secondly, Yar’Adua
publicly declared his assets, because he said he had nothing to
hide after being a two-term Governor of Katsina State between 1999
and 2007. Thirdly, Yar’Adua set up the Justice Muhammadu Uwais
Electoral Reform Panel, whose white paper indeed, led to some
electoral reforms.

This is because he had publicly acknowledged, during his May 29,
2007 swearing-in ceremony, that the election that threw him up as
President was flawed. This man must be resting in Aljannah
Firdaus.

Fourthly, Yar’Adua, in fulfilment of one of his
seven-point-agenda (the others were critical infrastructure, the
Niger Delta Food Security, Human Capital Development, Land Tenure
Reform, National Security and Intelligence, and Wealth Creation),
gave amnesty to the then restless Niger Delta militants. The
politicians had literally grounded exploration and exploitation of
oil, in their agitation for a just economic order and fair
treatment on matters concerning oil and gas, their God-given
wealth.

Lastly, Yar’Adua excelled in his Rule of Law practice, as the
bedrock of democracy. Although Rule of Law is presumably a given in
any constitutional democracy, Yar’Adua came out clearly and made it
his mantra. Under his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo,
rule of law meant different things to different people and classes
of citizens. A court judgement was only obeyed, as interpreted by
imperial President Obasanjo. Due Processes were seamlessly bypassed
in impeachment of Governors, such as Fayose and Dariye. The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had become a law
unto itself, contrary to its motto, “No one is above the law”. This
was later ignited under President Buhari. But, Yar’Adua distanced
himself from these ugly anti-people practices. He promised to
uphold the rule of law, at all times. He actually started
implementing court judgements. He swiftly restored Peter Obi to
office as the Governor of Anambra State in 2007, after a court
judgement. He stuck to due process, in his governance template.
Yar’Adua is gone. But, he remains in our hearts. (To be
continued).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“Fighting corruption is not just good governance.
It’s self-defence. It’s patriotism”. (Joe Biden)