President Muhammadu Buhari
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President Muhammadu Buhari on
Monday told journalists in Accra, Ghana, that he had declared his assets
four times since 1975 and challenged the newsmen to investigate the
details of his possession.
Buhari asked journalists to use the required law to dig up the records of his four separate asset declarations.
He said, “I recall that in 1975 when the
late Murtala Mohammed became the Head of State, we were lined up in the
corridor – governors, ministers, members of the Supreme Military
Council – and officials of the Ministry of Justice were brought and
every individual was made to declare his assets.
“So right now, all heads of state and
government, governors, ministers, permanent secretaries will have to
declare their assets because it is a constitutional requirement.”
The President said it was a constitutional requirement that public officers declare their assets.
He said, “In Nigeria, it is a
constitutional issue and that is why I am blaming you gentlemen of the
press. If you really want to do investigative journalism, you don’t have
to worry me at this stage; I have declared my assets four times.
“When I was governor in 1975, I
declared. After being Minister of the Petroleum and as a member of
Supreme Military Council, I declared. When I was Head of State and now
as a President, I also declared.
“I have declared my assets and all that I
have four times, and you (the media) have the right to go for my
declaration. Instead, I am being harassed.”
Also at a joint press conference with
the Ghanian President John Mahama in Accra, Buhari said that he would
name his cabinet before the end of this month.
The Senior Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement,
quoted his principal as saying, “After I was sworn-in, I said I will
have my cabinet in September. I expect that Nigerians should ask me
questions after the 30th of September if I do not do so,”
The President was responding to a question on the appointment of ministers.
He spoke amid concern that he might not
name his cabinet this month because the National Assembly would resume
from its recess at the end of the month.
The President also said that the
Nigerian military, in collaboration with the Multi-National Joint Task
Force, had recorded remarkable progress in the fight against Boko Haram
since he assumed office.
He stated, “The first thing I did after I
came into office was to reorganise the military and clear orders were
given to them in terms of retraining, re-equipping and redeployment of
troops.
“In the North-East, the military is gaining ground and Boko Haram has been limited to the Sambisa Forest.
“Internally Displaced Persons are gradually moving back home and they are being reintegrated into their respective communities.”
Mahama had said both leaders had fruitful discussions on how to enhance bilateral relations and improve regional security.
He said that Nigeria and Ghana would soon begin the process of reviving their joint commission for cooperation.
The Ghanaian President added that both
leaders also agreed to encourage closer cooperation between the
intelligence and anti-graft agencies of both countries.
He thanked President Buhari for his
visit and assured him of Ghana’s support and cooperation with Nigeria in
the fight against terrorism.
In a separate interview with the editor,
BBC Hausa, Mansur Liman, Buhari said culprits in the theft of the
country’s crude oil in the last few years would be named and prosecuted
soon.
The President said top management
personnel of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation could not feign
ignorance of the goings-on in the corporation in the last 10 years.
Buhari, who spoke in an interview with
the editor, BBC Hausa, Mansur Liman, said, “I am very pleased with the
reorganisation, we are getting a lot of results, which we hope in a
couple of months’ time we can make clear disclosures and start to
prosecute those that had been stealing the crude.
“Those who have been in charge of NNPC
at top level can’t claim ignorance of what has been happening in the
last 10 years. And the companies include the shipping companies, which
allowed themselves to be used to lift illegal crude from Nigeria or to
change at high sea or head to a different destination.”
There had been allegations that the NNPC
failed to remit N3.8tn to the Federation Account and allegedly stole
250,000 barrels of crude oil per day under the previous administration.
The NNPC, under the new Group Managing
Director, Ibe Kachikwu, had last month announced the cancellation of the
contract for the delivery of crude oil to the nation’s refineries in
Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.
The government’s oil corporation also
announced the termination of the Offshore Processing Agreements entered
into in January, 2015, with three companiesp: Duke Oil Company Inc.,
Aiteo Energy Resources Limited and Sahara Energy Resources Limited.
Under the terminated agreement, NNPC was
allocating a total of 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day for refining
at offshore locations in exchange for petroleum products at pre-agreed
yield pattern.
According to the corporation, the
decision to cancel the oil delivery contracts to refineries was taken
after proper evaluation of the contract terms.
On the OPA arrangement, the firm said
the current agreement was not in the interest of Nigeria and the
national oil firm, a development that led to its cancellation.
The NNPC also observed that the
structure of the agreement did not guarantee unimpeded supply of
petroleum products as delivery terms were not optimal.
To address these lapses, the NNPC
informed that it had commenced the process of establishing alternative
OPA based on optimum yield pattern with tender processing fees.
