By ADESINA AIYEKOTI and OLA AGBAJE
Monday, July 30, 2007

Goodluck Jonathan reportedly said public declaration of assets by public officers was voluntary and therefore, he would not make his assets and liabilities public.

Reacting to the statement, a leading legal practitioner, Chief J. B. Daudu (SAN) queried: “Morally, is he not bound to follow suit to show transparency? If voluntary declaration is an example of openness of transparency that the president set a very good example, being a vice president, he has no choice in the matter.

He should have followed a good example of the president. By his stance he must have something to hide. It is unfortunate, let’s hope we won’t have another Atiku,” he added.

Also speaking, the President of the West African Bar Association (WABA), Mr Femi Falana, explained that the vice president and other public office holders are not only morally bound to declare their assets publicly, they have a legal obligation to declare their assets publicly to the people.
“Public declaration of assets for public office holders is not just a moral question, it is, in fact, a legal obligation, which they must discharged just as the president has demonstrated by example.

“The legal implication is to the effect that the word declaration came from the Latin word declario, which simply means ‘to make public’ or ‘announce publicly.’ So it is both morally and legally incumbent on the affected public office holders to make known publicly their assets to the people. Do you declare something and still keep it secret? No. Public assets declaration is an essential ingredients of democracy,” Falana said.

Also kicking against the pronouncement, another notable lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, who said he was surprised at the statement.
“I think that since the vice president knew that it was part of the campaign policy of the president to openly declare his asset, it is wrong for the vice president to now make a U-turn that he would not declare his assets publicly, contrary to what they promised the electorate. He cannot, at this time, deny his president,” he added.

According to Adegboruwa, Jonathan has no moral justification not to declare his asset publicly. “We cannot have a president who is transparent and have a vice president who chooses not to be transparent,” he said.

Also supporting the positions of his colleague, lawyer and human rights activist, Bamidele Aturu, said the statement by Vice President Jonathan did not show any understanding of the mood of the nation.
“It does not show that the vice president is serious about fighting corruption. I condemn the statement in a very strong term,” he said.