Unsatisfied with a court judgment, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked a higher court to order public disclosure of assets declaration details submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, governors and other political office holders since 1999.
SERAP is praying the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos to set aside a judgment of a Federal High Court on the matter.
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had on Monday, May 11, 2020, dismissed the application filed by SERAP seeking “an order of mandamus to direct and compel the CCB to make available to the public specific details of asset declarations submitted to it by successive presidents, vice-presidents, senate presidents, speakers of House of Representatives, state governors and their deputies since 1999.”
Justice Muslim Hassan declined the prayers, saying, “I agree with the CCB that the duty to make the asset declaration form of public officers available is dependent upon the terms and conditions to be proscribed by the National Assembly.
“The terms and conditions must be specific and related to asset declaration of public officers and not legislation of general nature such as the Freedom of Information Act.”
However, in the appeal filed last week, SERAP averred :“The learned trial judge misinterpreted the provision and purport of paragraph 3[c], Third Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended).
“The judge did not consider that the Freedom of information was enacted by the National Assembly in 2011 to grant public access to public documents.”
Persecondnews recalls that both Buhari and Osinbajo had in 2015 in their first tenure published their assets as declared to CBC.
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