By Lasisi Olagunju
I do not have any problem declaring that I am excited by two of the 21 names submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari for ministerial appointments. One of them is Mrs Amina Mohammed. The other is Dr Kayode Fayemi. I do not have any problem seeing them clearly as the stellar oasis in the unfortunate desert we are willingly drifting towards. I have followed this Fulani woman, Amina, who enjoys calling herself “aje butter” from her days as Special Adviser on MDGs to President Olusegun Obasanjo. Beautiful, bold, elegant in gait and language, she carries herself with very uncommon self confidence. Amina speaks the language of service and she is easily seen as an agent of change. But she appears not favoured by the political establishment in her chosen state of Kaduna where all manners of opposition has risen against her nomination. The case against her is that she is not originally from that state. But where is her husband from? I see her really as a citizen of Nigeria. She is not the usual girl from the north with all the inhibitions. Anyone who cares should just find out why both Presidents Umaru YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan retained her and why the United Nations Secretary General, Ban-ki Moon picked her as his Special Adviser. I pray the senate gives President Muhammadu Buhari the grace of having her in his cabinet.
I’m also interested in Dr Kayode Fayemi, gentleman, mercurial, intellectual, deep and cosmopolitan. I have always been interested in him since our paths crossed some six years ago. It was nice reading his home governor and his arch political rival, grassrooter Ayodele Fayose asking his senators to support his nomination. A statement has been made with that. You can see that between Fayemi and Amina Mohammed, it is different strokes when it comes to home support.
Beyond these persons, I am also interested in one particular condition set by the senators for the nominees to be cleared: They must present their Asset Declaration forms. Now, at what point should one declare one’s assets? I find this very curious because what the constitution demand is for anyone elected or appointed into office to declare their assets before they start performing the functions of their office. Do you declare your assets before you are screened and cleared? Did the senators declare their own assets before they were inaugurated? It will be interesting having informed answers to these questions.
It will also be interesting to see what our would-be ministers have in the Asset Declaration forms. Before that, will it not be nice to ask our senators to post their own asset declaration forms on the official website of the National Assembly since they have made this all important form a pass for the nominees?
Again, you and I should be further enlightened if we have access to the forms as filled by our lords. We will, at least, know that unlike what President Buhari’s men gave us, the Code of Conduct Bureau’s Form CCB1 has no place for “home” as an item of interest in the possessions of public officers. It clearly asked for the “total number “ of “ buildings.” So, unlike what the president gave us, Nigerians would know the number of buildings in the “homes” our senators and ministers keep.
Again, unlike what the president gave us, the Form CCB1, demands more than the cash in bank office holders have. It, in specific terms, asks for: Name of bank, branch/address, account number, amount in the account and source of the money. Now, that our senators are asking our ministers to bring the forms, we should look forward to seeing these.
We will see more in the forms if we insist that everyone from the president to his appointees, to our powerful senators post their forms on their offices official websites. We will see that it is not enough for our president and our senators and our ministers and governors and all to simply tell us what they want us to know about their possessions. We will see that the law demands that they also declare in their form “ properties of spouses if not public officers.” We will also know that the law goes beyond these to demand that “ properties of children under 18 years of age” be declared by the public official.
Now, have you read or hear anything about these information from our President Buhari or your governor or your senator as they fight corruption and enthrone transparency and accountability?
Senators are demanding asset declaration forms from minister nominees. Have you seen your senator’s own form anywhere? But it is good they have come up with this ingenuity. Should we not applaud our senators for making this demand which is asking us to wake up and ask the right questions on the right issues? Should we not deepen the discourse and expand the narrative the senators have started with this Code of Conduct form condition from minister-nominees by asking the physician to first heal himself? Or should we- you and I- just be content with the contaminated milk of untruth, half truth and blatant lies we are served as transparency dishes?
