The Grassroots Initiative for Open and Democratic Governance in Nigeria,
GIODGN, has described as totally unacceptable and a flagrant abuse of the
laws of the land, the refusal of the outgoing First Lady of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, Dame (Dr.) Patience Jonathan to declare her assets,
since she resigned her post as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State
Civil Service in October, 2014.
In a statement signed by the group’s National President, Daniel Clapton
and the Secretary General, Godstime Innocent, the group notes that, the
First Lady’s refusal to declare her assets after stepping down as
permanent secretary negates the provisions of the code of conduct act,
which
requires public servants to declare their assets before and after leaving
office.
Part of the statement reads “It is unacceptable and an abuse of our
existing laws for anybody, no matter how highly placed, to refuse to do
the needful, by not declaring his or her assets, nearly 7 months, after
voluntarily resigning from a position. Our institutions must be alive
to their responsibilities and that is the only way we can build a strong
and virile democracy for the present and future generations of our people”
The statement frowned at the inability of the relevant organs of the
government to enforce the existing laws of the land, stressing that, the
Code of Conduct Bureau, whose responsibility it is, in the case, should
act fast in the interest of the nation’s nascent democracy.
It says, the failure of the Code of Conduct Bureau to perform its
statutory and constitutional duties, was not only a big drawback to the
nation’s democracy, but a serious disservice to the people of Bayelsa
State, where she held the appointment between between July, 2012 and
October, 2014.
While, blaming both Mrs. Jonathan and the Code of Conduct Bureau for
this very obvious lapse, the group calls for an urgent reversal,
threatening to institute a legal action, if nothing is done within the
shortest possible time.