The Code of Conduct Bureau has begun
massive verification of assets declared by top serving and former public
officers at the federal, state and local government levels.
A statement by the Chairman of the CCB,
Mr. Sam Saba, released by the Press and Protocol Unit of the bureau on
Thursday, stated that the exercise involved physical appearance of the
concerned public officers before the bureau for conference and field
verifications of their declared assets.
Conference verification requires public
officers to present documents relating to their declared assets to
designated officials of the bureau.
On the other hand, field 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.
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.”
He added that 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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