Buhari declares cattle, mud houses, trees... in his assets!

President Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Osibanjo  on Thursday made public details of their assets, which had been declared to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

According a statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President has about N30m in his only bank account with the Union Bank Plc, shares in Berger Paints, Skye Bank and Union Bank and a total of five homes, and two mud houses in Daura. He had two homes in Kaduna, one each in Kano, Daura and in Abuja. One of the mud houses in Daura was inherited from his late older sister, another from his late father. He borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes.
Also belonging to the President are two undeveloped plots of land in Kano and Port Harcourt. The President is still trying to trace the location of the Port Harcourt land, according to the statement.

Buhari also has an orchard and a ranch in Daura with 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees in them.

But the statement did not disclose the worth of the landed property and other assets, which both the President and the Vice President had declared.

Shehu said the President had no oil well and foreign bank accounts.

Buhari was also said to have declared that he had several cars, two of which he said were bought with his savings and the others supplied to him by the Federal Government in his capacity as a former Head of State.

“The rest were donated to him by well-wishers after his jeep was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014,” the statement added.

“The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into politics declared a bank balance of about N94m, $900,000 and £19,000 in his bank accounts, a four-bedroomed residence at Victoria Garden City in Lagos; three-bedroomed flat in Ikoyi, Lagos; two bedroomed flat at the Redemption Camp, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; and a two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England.

The vice president operates his Simmons Cooper Law firm, which is based in Lagos and has shares in MTN Nigeria, Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa Vistorion Ltd., and Aviva Ltd., all of which are based in Lagos.

Osinbajo is also said to have one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado Jeep.

Shehu’s statement read in part, “The documents submitted to the CCB, which officials say are still being vetted and will soon be made public, show that prior to being sworn in on May 29, President Buhari had less than N30m to his name. He also had only one bank account, with the Union Bank. President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no enterprises. He also had no registered company and no oil wells.

Reacting to the declaration of assets by Buhari and Osinbajo, a lawyer, Carol Ajie, said the documents had loopholes.

Ajie said Buhari and his deputy needed to “make clear if they have liabilities or not, bearing in mind that the Constitution places emphasis on assets and liabilities.”

The lawyer said, “We need a bit more on specificity on some of the items such as shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank, considering the length of time between April when he won the election and now, a period of six months for assets valuation of his seven houses located in Daura, Kano, Kaduna and Abuja.

“We have no addresses on these houses and what type of houses-bungalow, block of flats or duplexes- and estate valuer’s estimates. Same for his farms, orchard and a ranch in Daura, etc.

Punch