A’Court Gives Verdict On CCB To Reveal Assets Of Jonathan, Buhari

Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has said that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is not under any obligation to disclose former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari’s assets declaration forms as requested by a not-for-profit organization.

Saturday Telegraph reports that two non-governmental organizations, the Public and Private Development Centre and the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), dragged CCB to the Federal High Court in Abuja, requesting the bureau release the assets declaration information of former Presidents, Jonathan and Buhari.

The plaintiffs had also sought the release of assets declaration information of former Vice-Presidents Namadi Sambo and Yemi Osinbajo as well as other serving and retired public officers in Nigeria to scrutinise them.

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However, the trial court headed by Abdu Kafarari (now deceased) in November 2017 declined the plaintiffs’ request because the Freedom of Information Act upon which the application was made conflicts with some provisions of the Constitution, the supreme law of Nigeria.

In a judgement delivered by a three-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday, the appellate court upheld the decision of the trial court.

Justice Okon Abang, who read the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal, said the CCB was not bound to grant the appellants’ (the Public and Private Development Centre and the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy) request for copies of written declarations of assets submitted by public officers in Nigeria.