The Code of Conduct Bureau has refused to release
copies of asset declaration forms of some prominent Nigerians more than seven
days after Saturday PUNCH sent a letter of request to the bureau.
Relying on the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2011, Saturday PUNCH had on January 24 written to
the CCB asking for copies of asset declaration forms of the Chief of Staff to
the President, Abba Kyari; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss
Mustapha; Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige; Minister of Works, Housing and
Power, Babatunde Fashola (SAN); Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu; and
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Other office holders Saturday PUNCH
sought for their declaration forms from the CCB were Minister of Information
and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh; Minister of
State for Transportation(Aviation), Hadi Sirika; Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Director-General, DSS,
Yusuf Bichi; and Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed.
In the letter signed by the Punch Head of Abuja
Bureau, Olusola Fabiyi, the bureau was also asked to provide the list of
defaulters.
The letter read in part, “Beyond the listed
political office holders’ asset declaration forms, kindly furnish us with the
number and names of political office holders who have yet to fill and submit
their asset declaration forms for whatever reasons.
“We will also want to know the number of names of
political office holders the Code of Conduct Bureau is investigating over
issues relating to asset declaration forms.”
The newspaper also urged the CCB to furnish it
with the names of political office holders, who had yet to comply with the
bureau’s directive to visit it for verification.
“Based on the provision of the FOI Act, we hope
that our request will be granted within seven days of your receipt of this
letter,” the letter also read.
But despite a number of reminders during the
seven-day period stipulated by the FoI Act, the CCB failed to respond to the
letter. As of close of work on Friday, February 1, 2019, the CCB had yet to
respond.
When Saturday PUNCH sought to know the
reason for the agency’s action, a top official in CCB simply told one of our
correspondents, “The letter is on the chairman’s table. Can he be forced to
respond?”
The FoI letter, which was addressed to the
chairman of the CCB, was received by the bureau with a copy acknowledged by the
office of the chairman on January 24, 2019.
The FoI Act provides that public institutions
must make the information requested available within seven days of receiving
the request.
The Act also said failure to give access to the
information requested for within the time limit provided by the Act is deemed
as a refusal of access.
Specifically, Section 7 (4) of the Act states,
“Where the government or public institution fails to give access to information
or record applied for under this Act or part thereof within the time limit set
out in this Act, the institution shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed
to have refused to give access.”
And on the issue of time limit, Section 4 of the
Act states, “Where information is applied for under this Act, the public
institution to which the application is made shall, subject to Sections 6, 7,
and 8 of this Act, within seven days after the application is received – (a)
make the information available to the applicant, (b) Where the public
institution considers that the application should be denied, the institution
shall give written notice to the applicant that access to all or part of the
information will not be granted, stating reasons for the denial and the section
of this Act under which the denial is made.”
But eight days after the application was filed
and acknowledged by the bureau, the information requested was not made
available to Saturday PUNCH, neither was there any written notice to
state the reasons for the denial.
Agbakoba, other SANs slam FG
Reacting to the development, popular lawyers,
especially Senior Advocates of Nigeria, on Friday kicked against the CCB’s
action, saying the agency had no legal basis not to respond to the letter even
if the request would not be granted.
They said the agency’s decision to keep mum had
reinforced rumours and belief that the anti-corruption war was one-sided.
A former president of the Nigerian Bar
Association, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, said the information in the asset
declaration forms of public officials should be released immediately upon
request because they were in the public interest.
He explained that the purpose of the asset
declaration form was to enhance probity and public accountability and the
information could not be deemed personal.
He said the idea of the CCB releasing the
information to an applicant and denying another applicant could not have been
done in good faith.
He added, “Generally, the FoI overturns the
Official Secret Act and it is to make public information accessible upon
request. But there is a proviso that says they (public institutions) can
withhold it for good public reasons or in the national interest. But the CCB
must state that in its response to the applicant.”
Recall that the suspended Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, was suspended based on a petition filed by a civil society
group, Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative. Led by Mr Dennis
Aghanya, the group accused the CJN of false asset declaration and other sundry
allegations.
Aghanya had said that the ARDI had written a
petition against Onnoghen and commenced investigation against the senior
judicial officer about a year ago.
But there had been questions over how the
organisation got access to Onnoghen’s asset declaration forms if they were not
issued to him by the CCB.
Agbakoba said, “Clearly, it shows that the CCB is
not acting in good faith. If on one hand, it (CCB) would decline but on the
other hand releases information in respect of a very senior government
official, like the CJN, it has to justify why it is refusing the request.
Clearly, it puts into doubt its intentions.
“Asset declaration form cannot be personal
information and if the CCB sees it as one, it is part of the error. The purpose
of asset declaration is for probity and public accountability; so, asset
declaration is not personal.”
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Babatunde
Fashanu, said the CCB had no legal basis not to honour Saturday PUNCH’s
request.
He said, “There is absolutely no legal basis for
the CCB not to honour that request.
“In the first place, the CCB and the CCT are
performing an open public function and the people who are filling in their
information in these forms are public officers. So, since everything is for the
public, what would be their reason not to make it available? I think it should
be tested because I see no reason why the CCB should not make the forms public.
“Why are they filling the forms before taking
office and upon leaving? Is it not for the public to know that they didn’t
steal and that they are not corrupt? If they don’t comply, somebody should go
to court.”
Also, a former vice-president of the NBA, Mr
Monday Ubani, said it was worrisome the public could not have access to the
information domiciled with the bureau despite the FoI Act, noting that the
purpose of the asset declaration form was to ensure transparency and
accountability in governance.
He said, “There have been several instances where
people have applied and they were never given. That is why people are surprised
how a private NGO was able to get that of the CJN and that is why people are
saying if the NGO has that access, the CCB should also be ready to release the
information to people who have requested for information. That again shows some
level of uncertainty and duplicity in the application of our laws.”
Another SAN, Chief Mike Ozekhome, said there was
no legal basis for the CCB not to provide Saturday Punch with the
requested information.
He said, “There is no legal basis. You can go to
court. It reinforces what we have been saying that the anti-corruption fight is
selective.
“If the dossier of even just one, out of the more
than 36 ministers close to Buhari, is exposed, the whole country will be
shocked by the haemorrhage that members of the council of executive have
subjected Nigerians to.
“Corruption is deeper and more cancerous today
than ever before, especially within the executive. One minister’s assets alone,
if shown to Nigerians, will make Onnoghen’s $10,000 deposit in local
domiciliary account look like child’s play.
“I dare the government and the CCB to throw open
to Nigerians the asset declaration forms of the President, the Vice-President
and all the ministers so that Nigerians can scrutinise and determine who
exactly are the corrupt Nigerians that we have today. You will discover that
the first 11 most corrupt Nigerians, to the second 11, up to the third 11 all
reside within the executive arm of government in Nigeria today, led by the
Presidency. So, I dare them to do that, to show that the anti-corruption fight
is not selective.”
Another lawyer, Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN,
faulted the refusal of the bureau to release the official documents, saying,
“Even without the Freedom of Information Act, they (asset declaration forms)
should be available on demand, provided you are ready to pay the fee and the
officer in possession of the documents must certify them and hand over the
copies to you.”
The Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, Mr
Edetaen Ojo, said, “I do not believe the Chief Justice of Nigeria can be
characterised as an “opposition” member but it is clear that the CCB is
selective in its enforcement of the assets declaration requirements and uses it
as a political weapon. If it is open to making such a public show of the Chief
Justice of Nigeria and his assets declaration, whether the allegations against
him are true or false, then there can be no basis for the CCB to claim that it
is concerned about any public officer’s privacy or is interested in protecting
the privacy of those who have submitted their assets declaration forms to the
bureau.”
Buhari’s government playing to the
gallery –PDP, CUPP
Similarly, the Coalition of United Political
Parties has described the CCB refusal to grant access to asset forms of office
holders in line with the FoI Act as an indication that the present
administration is not committed to the anti-corruption war as being claimed.
The coalition’s first national spokesperson, Imo
Ugochinyere, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on
Friday.
Ugochinyere said, “It shows the President is only
playing to the gallery when he talks about his administration’s fight against
corruption. They should know that making these documents available will go a
long way to help the fight against corruption, if indeed they are committed to
the fight.”
Also reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party said
the CCB’s refusal to grant access to certain political office holders’ asset
declaration forms in line with the provisions of the FoI Act was
unconstitutional.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr
Diran Odeyemi, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said it was
evidence of bias by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
Also, the National President of the Committee for
the Defence of Human Rights, Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, said the CCB had no legal
basis to deny Saturday Punch the information requested.
Efforts to speak with the Head of Information of
the CCB, Mrs Florence Dibiaezue-Eke, were not successful. She did not take her
call and did not respond to a text message sent to her by one of our
correspondents on the failure of the bureau to respond to the letter.
-CCB’s refusal to release Buhari’s
appointees’ forms shows lack of accountability – Secondus
In his reaction, the PDP said the action of the
CCB was a confirmation that the Presidency was not ready to listen to
Nigerians.
It also said that it was a sign that the
President Buhari-led Federal Government was not bothered about the public
perception of the government.
The National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche
Secondus, who spoke with one of our correspondents, called on Nigerians to
impress it on the government to give account to them on its activities.
He said if the request had been for the release
of forms by the opposition, the CCB would have released it without pressure.
He said, “Those who expect the APC-led Federal
Government to change its style may be living in the past.
“Recall that the Chairman of the APC, Adams
Oshiomhole recently said that the party forgives sinners? Maybe they are
looking for ways of either cleaning the forms of the affected officers or
outright withdrawal of the forms to enable then refill.
“You also recall that they said all those who
have looted money and are undergoing trial become saints as soon as they join
or identify with the ruling party?
“You therefore don’t expect such a party or its
government agency to willingly expose its sinful workers.”
