The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), has called on President Olusegun Obasanjo and all other public officials to open up for genuine public scrutiny by fully declaring their assets if Nigerians were to believe any anti-corruption stance of the government.
The umbrella of opposition parties was reacting to a resolution on Wednesday by the Plateau State House of Assembly urging the president to publish his assets.
A statement signed by CNPP’s secretary general, Maxi Okwu, made available to Daily Trust in Abuja yest-erday, said the war against graft waged by this government was insincere and that the president may redeem it if he accepted the challenge of the Plateau lawmakers.
“We restate our earlier view that the anti-corruption crusade of his (Obasanjo’s), regime is a farce or at best, selective and jaundiced.
“We concluded by saying that hope is not completely lost if General Obasanjo will respond to the call by the Plateau State House of Assembly to make public his assets declaration for public scrutiny. He should also direct all his officials to do likewise. It is only then that an honest and effective anti-corruption campaign can be launched,” the statement said.
Saying that the lawmakers’ challenge was a relief to the political parties, Okwu declared that it has laid bare, “the vindictiveness, double standards and outright chicanery of the Obasanjo regime.” Arguing further that Governor Joshua Dariye, whom Obasanjo wants probed by the legislators was a mere scapegoat, CNPP urged the president “to tell the nation what he has done over the money laundering allegations against governors by his minister of state for finance, Mrs Nenadi Usman and the chairman of EFCC, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu. What has Obasanjo done to the report of TI that 70 percent of the corruption in Nigeria is located in the presidency?”
Governor Joshua Dariye had in an interview with the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), declared that he did not steal, saying, “I was a businessman before I became governor.”
He said allegations of impropriety against him were unfounded, adding, “I am not afraid of any investigations. I didn’t steal. I was a businessman before I became governor. Some people joined politics with bathroom slippers, today they are billionaires. But we that are businessmen, in a day we make aboutN650 million.”
Dariye reminded his critics in government that he who lives in a glass house should not throw stone. “All of us are living in glass hou-ses. Let no one start throwing stones. We should be godly and be disciplined.”
The Plateau House of Assembly in its response to the allegations listed against Chief Dariye by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN), challenged President Obasanjo and other top government functionaries to declare their assets.
The House, in its resolution, called on the Code of Conduct Bureau to put in the public domain the details of the assets declaration of all public officers “from Mr President to the least public officer in the federation.”
But in an apparent response to the Plateau Assembly, President Obasanjo’s assistant on public affairs, Femi Fani-Kayode, said the president generates N30 million ($250,000) monthly from his Otta farm.
According to Fani-Kayode, the Otta farm, located in, Abeokuta, Ogun State, realises the amount monthly and much of it was reinvested to develop the property.
|
|
