The
Peoples Democratic Party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and
his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to release copies of their assets
declaration forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
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It said Buhari made the pledge on March 18, 2015, at exactly 5 pm.
The party
recalled that the President, in his own words, had stated to Nigerians
that, “I pledge to publicly declare my assets and liability and also
encourage my political appointees to publicly declare their assets and
liability.”
PDP
National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja
on Friday, said “the release of a mere list of belongings falls short
of credibility, transparency and anti-corruption standards as well as
exposes the proclivity of the present administration for deception.”
“We have
noted the release of a flimsy list of belongings of President Buhari and
Vice President Osinbajo by the Presidency, who want such to pass as the
public declaration of assets as pledged by the President. Nigerians are
not deceived by this poor attempt at window-dressing designed by the
Presidency to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace in a desperate bid to
shore up its diminished image.
“We ask,
is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration,
not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance
with their widely observed inclination for flip-flopping, back tracking
and brazen denials of their statements and actions?”
The
statement also said, “All we want is credibility, integrity and
sincerity of purpose. We are not questioning how a President, who by
December last year, declared that he had only N1 million in his account,
could suddenly now list N30 million in the same bank account by May 29,
and after an expensive campaign; we are not yet demanding the public
declaration of his assets in his wife’s name.
“We are
not even applauding the multiplication of his cows from 150 to 250 in a
space of three months, arising from his dual and conflicting
pronouncements on this issue.”
He said what the PDP and discerning Nigerians were demanding was for the President to always stand by his words and pledge.
“Mr.
President, this is a mere list of your belongings and not a public
declaration of assets in fulfillment of your covenant with Nigerians,”
Metuh concluded.
