A Nigerian lawyer determined to hold the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to their election promises has dragged them before a Federal High Court in Lagos, overwhat he
claimed was a failure to keep to their promise of publicly declaring their assets.
Buhari and Osinbajo declared their assets but did so in private to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), drawing mass outrage from the public who expected them to keep to their campaign promises.
The suit was commenced by Akingbolu, who posited that by the secret declaration of their assets, Buhari and Osinbajo have contravene Section 172 and Section 11 (1) and (2) of the Code of Conduct for public officers under the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amentded).
Akingbolu aims to acquire a declaration from the court, first that the secret declaration of the assets of the Osinbajo and Buhari is unconstitutional, and secondly, issuing a mandate for the publishing of the assets declared to them by Buhari and Osinbajo, by the CCB, and thirdly, that they publicly declare their assets in accordance with the Code of Conduct for public officers under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.
Airing his grievance, Akingbolu averred that the CCB “has been shielding Buhari and Osinbajo by not publicizing their purported declaration of assets in line with the law.”
“I know as a fact as a legal practitioner that Buhari and Osinbajo are duty bound to declare their assets publicly and it will be in the interest of justice, public peace and good governance to grant the reliefs in this suit,” he averred.
Other defendants in the suit include the Attorney General of the Federation and the Code of Conduct Bureau.
