LAGOS AUGUST 15TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, says the president never promised to make his assets public. Adesina said the issue of assets publishing cannot be credited to Buhari but the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adesina said Buhari has declared his assets in compliance with the law and may decide to make them public when verification is concluded by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
He was speaking in an interview with Kayode Ogundamisi, a social commentator. “You need to get his words right, go and check all that the president said during the campaign, in no place would you see it attributed to him as a person,” Adesina said.
“But then there is a document by his party, the All Progressives Congress, saying he would declare publicly, so we need to set that right, it’s a declaration by his party.
“Now what does the law require? The law requires public officers to declare their assets; he has done that. But his party has a document that says he would do it publicly.
“There is a procedure for that, and the procedure is that you first declare, code of conduct (bureau) would verify and after that, if you want to make it public, the onus lies on you to say release. The procedure has to be followed.”
The presidential spokesman went on to say the decision to release or not release the asset for public consumption would be taken by the president when verification is done. “
He has declared, and it is deposited with the code of conduct bureau and they need to verify. Let’s come to that time when code of conduct would say we have completed verification.”
When Urhobotoday contacted Femi Adesina via an sms to confirm if he said during an interview with cable network that President Buhari did not say he will declare his assets publicly, he replied thus, “I have said all I want to say on that matter. And it is not the way you put it. Please check what I said”