{"id":71495,"date":"2020-01-26T12:10:03","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=71495"},"modified":"2020-01-26T12:10:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:10:03","slug":"serap-asks-court-to-order-buhari-osinbajo-36-governors-to-publish-their-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/serap-asks-court-to-order-buhari-osinbajo-36-governors-to-publish-their-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"SERAP asks court to order Buhari, Osinbajo, 36 governors to publish their assets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a<\/div>\n
\n
lawsuit asking the Federal High Court, Abuja to order President
\nMuhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 36 state
\ngovernors and their deputies to “make public details of their assets,
\nspecifically property and income, contained in their asset declaration
\nforms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) since assuming
\noffice.”<\/p>\n

In the suit number FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/65\/2020 filed last Friday, SERAP is
\nseeking: “an order for leave to apply for judicial review and an order
\nof mandamus to direct and\/or compel President Buhari, Vice-President
\nOsinbajo, 36 state governors and their deputies to make public their
\nsummary of assets; disclose whether they have had any reason to review
\nand update their asset declarations submitted to the CCB, and if the
\ndeclarations have been made as constitutionally and statutorily
\nrequired.”<\/p>\n

SERAP is also seeking: “an order to compel President Buhari,
\nVice-President Osinbajo, 36 state governors and their deputies to
\ndisclose whether they have received any confirmation of the verification
\nof their asset declarations by the CCB and to disclose whether they have
\ntaken any steps to encourage members of their cabinet to also submit
\ntheir asset declarations to the CCB, and to make such declarations
\npublic.”<\/p>\n

The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information (FoI) requests dated 3
\nJanuary 2020, expressing concern that: “The non-public disclosure by
\npublic officials of their summary of assets undermines the effectiveness
\nand integrity of the constitutional and statutory obligations to submit
\nasset declarations, especially given that declarations are designed to
\ncurb grand corruption, and weakens the public trust in the asset
\ndeclaration regimes.”<\/p>\n

According to SERAP, only two states\u2014Lagos state and Niger state\u2014have
\nresponded to its FoI requests. But both states declined the requests to
\nmake public the assets of their governors and deputies, on the ground
\nthat “the FoI Act is inapplicable to state governments, their agencies
\nand officials, and that only houses of assembly of states are
\nconstitutionally empowered to make laws on public records of states.”<\/p>\n

Also, while reacting to SERAP FoI request to President Buhari, Mr Femi
\nAdesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, had
\nsaid: “SERAP asking the president to declare publicly, on the basis of
\nwhat law? The president will do what the law requires of him and what
\nthe law requires is that he should declare his asset which he has done.
\nDeclaring publicly is not in our laws; it can only be a voluntary
\nthing.”<\/p>\n

SERAP is also seeking: “a declaration that the failure of President
\nBuhari, Vice-President Osinbajo, 36 state governors and their deputies
\nto provide SERAP with the requested information on their assets
\nconstitutes a breach of SERAP’s right under the FoI Act, 2011, and such
\nfurther order(s) the Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the
\ncircumstances.”<\/p>\n

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its counsel Kolawole Oluwadare,
\nread in part: “The advantages that the general public would gain from
\nbeing informed about the summary of assets declarations submitted to the
\nCCB outweigh any perceived privacy or inconvenience if the court orders
\nthe details to be made public as sought by SERAP.”<\/p>\n

“By a combined reading of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended),
\nthe FoI Act, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,
\nPresident Buhari, Vice-President Osinbajo, 36 state governors and their
\ndeputies ought to be directed and compelled to make public their asset
\ndeclarations as submitted to the CCB.”<\/p>\n

“The reliefs sought are constitutionally and statutorily grounded and
\nbased on Nigeria’s international transparency obligations. The reliefs
\nsought do not clash with the rights to privacy and data protection. Both
\nrights are not absolute and can be restricted provided there is a basis
\nin law and a legitimate public interest justifies the restriction.
\nPrevention of grand corruption and exposing unexplained wealth of
\nofficials are serious and legitimate public interests.”<\/p>\n

“SERAP and indeed the general public have a legitimate interest in
\nascertaining and scrutinizing the veracity, exactitude and honesty of
\ninformation contained in asset declarations submitted by public
\nofficials to the CCB. Without public disclosure of summary of assets,
\nthis would have no practical importance.”<\/p>\n

“Public disclosure of summary of assets submitted to the CCB would help
\nuncover any irregularities and trigger formal verification of
\ndeclarations by the CCB and other anti-corruption agencies, be entirely
\nconsistent with government’s expressed commitment to prevent and combat
\ncorruption, provide a safeguard against abuse, and serve as an incentive
\nto public officials to provide exact information when filing and
\nsubmitting their asset declarations.”<\/p>\n

“Any perceived claim of interference with the right to privacy are
\nsufficiently foreseeable for the purposes of the legal requirements for
\nasset declarations by public officials, given that public-disclosure of
\nsummary of assets would undoubtedly contribute to the legitimate aim of
\nasset declaration regimes to prevent corruption, as it would ensure
\ntransparency regarding the details of those assets.”<\/p>\n

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court, Abuja to order President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 36 state governors and their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nSERAP asks court to order Buhari, Osinbajo, 36 governors to publish their assets - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/serap-asks-court-to-order-buhari-osinbajo-36-governors-to-publish-their-assets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SERAP asks court to order Buhari, Osinbajo, 36 governors to publish their assets - 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