Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will declare his assets after wining the presidential election next year, a chieftain of the party has assured Nigerians.
The Code of Conduct, CCB, makes it mandatory for public officials to obtain a public assets form and declare their their assets as soon as they come to office.
A former lawmaker, Farouk Aliyu gave the assurance on Tuesday while featuring on a Channels Television programme.
Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state is believed to be extremely wealthy, and to underscore this point, the APC presidential hopeful had boasted at a time that he’s richer than some states in the country.
The former Lagos Governor’s wealth is shrouded in secrecy, and not a few Nigerians have insisted that he declared his assets, particularly now that he’s aspiring to lead the country as president and commander-in-chief.
Some have even accused Tinubu of corruption by allegedly cornering the resources of the state through his successor governors which he installed after he left office.
For instance, Tinubu is believed to be the owner of Alpha Beta, a tax consultancy firm in charge of tax collections for the Lagos state government.
But speaking, Aliyu said the APC leader’s sources of income are legitimate, adding that all the probes on the former governor showed that he has nothing to hide.
Aliyu challenged anyone who has any information on Tinubu to make it public.
He explained that it’s necessary that those aspiring for public offices declare their assets, assuring that “if he (Tinubu) wins, there would be declarations – he would declare his assets for everybody to see and I assure you that if Tinubu wins the election by the grace of God, he is going to come clean.
“We don’t want anybody to keep it secret. We don’t want anybody to hide,” he said, maintaining that nothing illegal has so far been found on the APC presidential flagbearer.
Nigerian presidents, except the late President Umar Yar’Adua have all refused to declare their assets, citing the relevant laws which do not make it a compulsion for them to do so.
The Guardian while writing in its March 2, 2020 Editorial said the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to make his assets public, even though he had earlier promised to do so, raised serious questions about his integrity as an incorruptible public servant.
“This public image exuded by President Buhari years ago was one of trust. In his seeming frugality and simplicity he tended to have made overtures to the unsuspecting public that he was a man with a high sense of moral probity; one who would not brook any odour of corruption around his sphere of influence. It is this trust, this frugality and supposed uncompromising stance against corruption that well-meaning Nigerians invoke when they assume that Buhari would publicly declare his assets,” the newspaper said.
