The Grassroots Initiative for Open and Democratic Governance in Nigeria,
\nGIODGN, has described as totally unacceptable and a flagrant abuse of the
\nlaws of the land, the refusal of the outgoing First Lady of the Federal
\nRepublic of Nigeria, Dame (Dr.) Patience Jonathan to declare her assets,
\nsince she resigned her post as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State
\nCivil Service in October, 2014.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed by the group\u2019s National President, Daniel Clapton
\nand the Secretary General, Godstime Innocent, the group notes that, the
\nFirst Lady\u2019s refusal to declare her assets after stepping down as
\npermanent secretary negates the provisions of the code of conduct act,
\nwhich
\nrequires public servants to declare their assets before and after leaving
\noffice.<\/p>\n
Part of the statement reads \u201cIt is unacceptable and an abuse of our
\nexisting laws for anybody, no matter how highly placed, to refuse to do
\nthe needful, by not declaring his or her assets, nearly 7 months, after
\nvoluntarily resigning from a position. Our institutions must be alive
\nto their responsibilities and that is the only way we can build a strong
\nand virile democracy for the present and future generations of our people\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement frowned at the inability of the relevant organs of the
\ngovernment to enforce the existing laws of the land, stressing that, the
\nCode of Conduct Bureau, whose responsibility it is, in the case, should
\nact fast in the interest of the nation\u2019s nascent democracy.<\/p>\n
It says, the failure of the Code of Conduct Bureau to perform its
\nstatutory and constitutional duties, was not only a big drawback to the
\nnation\u2019s democracy, but a serious disservice to the people of Bayelsa
\nState, where she held the appointment between between July, 2012 and
\nOctober, 2014.<\/p>\n
While, blaming both Mrs. Jonathan and the Code of Conduct Bureau for
\nthis very obvious lapse, the group calls for an urgent reversal,
\nthreatening to institute a legal action, if nothing is done within the
\nshortest possible time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n