In its renewed effort to wipe out corruption in the country, the
Code of Conduct Bureau has commenced massive verification of assets
declared by top serving and former public officers at the federal, state
and local government levels.
This was made public by the Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, in a
statement released by the Press and Protocol Unit of the bureau on
Thursday. The statement revealed that the exercise involved physical
appearance of the concerned public officers before the bureau for
conference and field verifications of their declared assets.
In conference verification, the public office holders are required
to present documents relating to their declared assets to designated
officials of the bureau.
Feld verification involves public officers taking CCB officials to
locations of their declared landed, fixed and other assets that could
not be conveniently moved to the bureau’s office.
According to a Punch report, he stated that by virtue of Paragraph
11 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as
amended), “every public officer is required to submit to the Code of
Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all properties, assets and
liabilities and those of his/her spouse (if not a public officer) and
his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.”
According to him, any statement in the declaration, found to be false by any authorities or persons authorised to verify it, “shall be deemed to be a breach of the code”.
He stated, “To this end, the Bureau has commenced its 2016 4th
Quarter Cycle of Conference and Field Verification of Assets of top
public officers. Accordingly, letters of invitation have been dispatched
to ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, service chiefs and
other top public officers.
“All invited public officers are to note that failure to honour
the invitation by the CCB in this regard is a breach of the provisions
of the constitution and could lead to prosecution at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal.
“Public officers not yet invited are to await their letters of invitation.”
He listed 76 public officers that had been invited by the bureau
with a threat of the possibility of prosecution if they fail to honour
the invitation. Among the 76 invitees are 30 ministers whom, according
to the bureau, have yet to submit themselves to the exercise.
According to the bureau, ministers who have yet to submit
themselves for the verification are Rotimi Amaechi (Transportation);
Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing); Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum
Resources (State); Abubakar Malami (Attorney General of the Federation
and Minister of Justice); Adebayo Shittu (Communications); Dr. Kayode
Fayemi (Solid Minerals and Steel Development); Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture
and Rural Development).
Others include Senator Aisha Alhassan (Women Affairs and Social
Development); Solomon Dalung (Youths & Sports Development); Osagie
Ehanire (Health (State)); Usani Usani (Niger Delta Affairs); Prof.
Anthony Anwukah (Education (State)); Lai Mohammed (Information and
Culture), and Gen. Ali Mansur (retd.) (Defence).
The list also includes Senator Udo Udoma (Budget and National
Planning); Ibrahim Jibril (Environment (State)); Suleiman Adamu (Water
Resources and Rural Development); Mustapha Shehuri (Power (State));
Prof. Claudius Daramola (Niger Delta Affairs (State)) and Kemi Adeosun
(Finance) as those who have not submitted themselves to verification.
The rest are Prof. Isaac Adewole (Health); Okechukwu Enelamah
(Trade, Investment and Industry); Geoffrey Onyema (Foreign Affairs );
Muhammadu Bello (Federal Capital Territory); Senator Hadi Sirika
(Aviation (State)); Hajiya Khadija Bukar (Foreign Affairs(State));
Senator Chris Ngige (Labour and Employment); Heineken Lokpobiri
(Agriculture and Rural Development (State)); Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Science
and Technology); and Abubakar Bwari (Solid Minerals (State) ).
The rest of the public officers still expected to submit themselves
to the bureau are the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin
Emefiele; Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Oyo-Ita Ekanem; Chief
of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olanishakin; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice
Marshal Abubakar Sadique; and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral
Ibas Ibok.
Also on the list are the immediate past Inspector-General of
Police, Mr. Solomon Arase; Chairman, Police Service Commission, Chief
Mike Okiro; Controller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Babatunde
Mohammed; Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, Waziri Adio; Director-General of National
Pension Commission, Mrs. Chinelo Amazu; and Executive Director/Chief
Executive Officer, Export Promotion Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo.
Also yet to turn up for the CCB verification are the
Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Sule Kazaure;
Executive Secretary, Nigeria Sao-Tome & Principle Joint Development
Authority, Kashim Tumash; Group Managing Director, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru; Controller-General of Federal Fire
Service, Anebi Garba; Director-General, Budget and National Planning,
Mr. Ben Akabueze, and Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance
Commission, Ibrahim Umaru.
Others include the Executive Secretary of National Universities
Commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu; Managing Director, Nigerian Ports
Authority, Mrs. Hadiza Usman; Managing Director, Asset Management
Corporation of Nigeria, Ahmed Kuru, and Controller-General of MSCDS,
Muhammad Abdullahi.
The Deputy Inspectors-General of Police, who are on the list, are
Ntom Chukwu, Folusho Adebanjo, Emmanuel Inyang, Maigari Dikko, Joshak
Habila, Shuaibu Gambo, and Hyacinth Dagala.
An Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Bube, is also on the list.
Military officers, whose names appear on the list, are Real Admiral
Joseph Osa (Commandant, Operation Delta Safe) and Major General M. A.
Koleoso (GOC Tradoc).
The CCB also listed a number of Federal Commissioners of the Civil
Service Commission and three Group Executive Directors of the NNPC, who
are yet to submit themselves to the CCB’s verification.
In the statement, the CCB stated that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Tukur Buratai, and five other ministers, among 15 other former and
serving public officers, had submitted themselves to the asset
verification.
Buratai recently became the target of scathing public scrutiny when
reports of his choice $1.5m properties, which he claimed were acquired
in the name of his wife in Dubai, hit the public space.
Saba, confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone that all the
15 persons, whose assets had been verified, had been issued a
certificate of Conference Verification/Field Verification.
“The Chief of Army Staff was the first to be issued his certificate. We started issuing to others last week,” he said.
Responding to further inquiry about whether the certificate issued
by the CCB implied that the cleared public officers were free from
liability of criminal prosecution, Saba stated, “Even though the
tribunal (Code of Conduct Tribunal) is the institution with the power of
adjudication in asset declaration breaches, the certificate means that
from our own end, we are satisfied with the verification that we have
done.”
The five cleared ministers are Abdulrahman Dambazau (Interior);
Zainab Shamsuna (Budget & National Planning); Adamu Adamu
(Education); Aisha Abubakar (Minister of Trade, Investment &
Industry (State)); and Amina Mohammed (Minister of Environment).
The rest of the former and serving public officers already cleared
by the CCB are the immediate past Secretary of the Government of the
Federation, Pius Anyim; Chairman, Independent National Electoral
Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood; a former Executive Secretary of the
NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, and a former Controller-General, Nigerian
Prisons Service, Ezenwa Peter.
They also include the Acting MD/CEO, Niger Delta Development
Commission, Semenitari Tamunoibim; Controller-General, Nigeria Customs
Service, Col. Ibrahim Ali (retd.); Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris; Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi; and
Federal Commissioner, Civil Service Commission, Hope Ikrirko.
The CCB boss commended those that had turned up for the exercise.
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