Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja said he had declared his assets four times over time and there was nothing vague about the issue.
Buhari made the statement in a media chat, adding that he first declared the assets in the Murtala Muhammad regime and later the Olusegun Obasanjo military regime before every public post he held.
“I have declared my assets four times. First when I was governor of the North-Eastern state, then as the Minister of Petroleum and when I was leaving for War College in 1979 and, of course, when I became the head of state.
“But when I was leaving as head of state I did not declare because I ended up in detention for three and a half years.
“When I came out and got into politics I declared,’’ he said.
Buhari urged all who were in doubt to seek out the relevant departments and get the full declaration and if the Ministry of Justice did not have the declaration, it should be questioned.
He also said he was not in position to remind members of his cabinet to declare their assets as they were required by the constitution to do so.
Responding to a question on corrupt judges, Buhari said he was aware of such allegations but it takes two to tango.
“When tribunals were to come up, an appeal was made to the judiciary to be impartial because the judiciary has to work within time limit to listen to cases.
“It has reached the high heavens, the scream by Nigerians about corruption in the judiciary; I think this is something the government has to take up with the judiciary itself.
“But the judiciary is virtually a sitting duck, it is what the police take to them, it is what the lawyers present to them.
“So really to blame the judiciary, you are putting them in a very, very difficult position because they cannot work by themselves.
“They are massively contributions from other institutions for the judiciary to be corrupt.
“There has to be proof. You cannot just sit and say the judiciary is corrupt, it takes two to tango, somebody must be offering.’’
On the issue that the Department of State Security (DSS) was blatantly disobeying court orders to release suspects in its custody, Buhari said the DSS could not afford to release them.
“Technically, if you see the type of atrocities those people committed against the country, if they jump bail….
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“The former president just wrote to the CBN governor, give N40 billion to so and so and you give the N40 billion and he goes to see his doctor in London, while there are two million people in IDPs.
“Half of them do not even know their fathers… Which type of government do you want to have,’’ the president asked.’’ (NAN)
