Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, has dragged the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to court over its refusal to disclose assets declared by President Muhammadu Buhari and some state governors.
According to Punch, the Code of Conduct Bureau in a letter with reference number CCB/HQ/LU/047/59 had rejected a Freedom of Information request by SERAP demanding the details of asset declarations submitted to it by presidents and state governors between 1999 and 2019.
The Bureau had argued that making their forms public would amount to an invasion of the privacy of presidents and governors.
In the suit, which it filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP is seeking an order granting leave to apply for judicial review and to seek an order of mandamus compelling the CCB to make available to it asset declarations submitted to it by presidents and state governors between 1999 and 2019.
SERAP maintained in the suit that “asset declarations of presidents and state governors submitted to the CCB are public documents. Public interest in disclosure of the details of asset declarations sought by SERAP clearly outweighs any claim of protection of the privacy of presidents and state governors, as they are public officers entrusted with the duty to manage public funds, among other public functions.
“A necessary implication of the rule of law is that a public institution like the CCB can only act in accordance with the law, as to do otherwise may enthrone arbitrariness. The CCB does not have reasonable grounds on which to deny SERAP’s FOI request, as it is in the interest of justice, the Nigerian public, transparency, and accountability to publish details of asset declarations by presidents and state governors since the return of democracy in 1999.”
