The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has accused the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of reneging on his promise to make a public declaration of his personal assets during campaigns for the 2015 general elections.
WuzupNigeria reports that the presidency counters Rev Fr. Kukah’s allegation by taunting the cleric to provide evidence where the President made the pledge.
Kukah, represented by the Director of Communications in Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Rev. Fr. Patrick Alumuku, in his lecture entitled: “Is corruption a biological necessity or a political invention?” made a mockery of Nigerian leaders who protect themselves with immunity leaving the people vulnerable.
According to him, ending corruption in Nigeria would not be soon if politicians continue to control the security agencies and the judiciary.
Kukah said corruption became so glaring when political leaders at the top shield themselves and “subordinate the apparatus of state to hide their own corruption and leave the poor and ordinary people vulnerable.”
He said,
“Let me ask two or three questions that I have heard being asked. First, it is in the Law that the Chairman of EFCC must be from the Police Force and a Muslim from Northern Nigeria?
“Two, people have asked, how is it that the President used Justice Onnoghen’s Asset Declaration form to prove his corruption and proceed to sack him, yet the President himself has not publicly declared his own assets as he promised during his campaigns?”
But firing back, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Femi Adesina, while reviewing the book, recalled that on his first day on the job after his appointment, he posed the same question to the President and other officials of the government in a private meeting.
Buhari’s Spokesperson said he got an answer that there was never a promise by the President to make public the declaration of his assets, but had assured Nigerians of doing what the constitution required.
He corrected the impression in the minds of the audience by Kukah’s submission, saying Buhari never promised to make a public declaration of his assets but to follow the constitution.
Adesina said,
“In a private meeting with the President, one of the first questions I asked him was, this promise about public declaration of assets, when he was doing it and then he (Buhari) asked me: ‘can you please show me where that promise was ever made?’ and lo and behold, we searched everywhere, there was no place where the President ever said he would do a public declaration of his assets.
“The President told me what the law requires. The law requires you to declare your assets and that is what he would do. And yet since that year (2015), they keep repeating it that he promised a public declaration.
“So, Sir, can you tell Bishop Kukah that I challenge him to produce that promise by the President because the President stands on it till tomorrow that he never promised public declaration.
“In 2015, he made his assets public. In 2019, he has declared that he has chosen not to make it public. He has not broken any law. So, let’s not continue to repeat what is untrue, what is an inexactitude. That’s my message to Bishop Kukah.”
