Media
Rights Agenda Sues Code of Conduct Bureau Over Refusal to Release Public
Officers Assets Declarations
Lagos, Wednesday, September 1, 1999:
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in
Lagos seeking to compel the Code of Conduct Bureau to release to it the
declaration of assets made by 40 public officers, including President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
In the suit, MRA is contending that the true interpretation
and effect of Section 3[c] of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999
Constitution is that every Nigerian citizen has an uninhibited right of
access to assets declarations made by public officers and that the refusal
of the Code of Conduct Bureau to allow it access to the assets
declarations made by 40 named public officers is unconstitutional.
Besides President Obasanjo, other public officers included
in MRA’s request are the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Senate
President, Chief Evan Enwerem; the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Alhaji Gahli Na’Abba; and the Governors of the 36 states
of the Federation.
The Plaintiffs in the suit are the Incorporated Trustees of
Media Rights Agenda and Mr. Edetaen Ojo, MRA’s Executive Director, while
the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Attorney-General of the Federation are
named as defendants.
By an Originating Summons filed at the Federal High Court
on their behalf by the organization’s Director of Legal Services, Mr.
Tunde Fagbohunlu, MRA and Mr. Ojo are asking the court to make a judicial
determination of the following questions:
·
Whether every Nigerian citizen has a right to
ensure that Nigerian public officers comply with the provisions of the
Code of Conduct for Public Officers set out in Part 1 of the Fifth
Schedule to the 1999 Constitution;
·
If the answer is in the affirmative, whether
the right of every Nigerian citizen to ensure compliance with the Code of
Conduct for Public Officers also confers on every citizen, by necessary
implication, a right of access to assets declaration forms submitted to
the Code of Conduct Bureau by public officers pursuant to Section 3[a] of
Part 1 of the Third Schedule and Section 11[1] of Part 1 of the Fifth
Schedule to the 1999 Constitution;
·
If the answer is yes, whether the true
interpretation and effect of Section 3[c] of Part 1 of the Third Schedule
to the Constitution is that every Nigerian, prima facie, has an
uninhibited right of access to assets declarations made by public
officers, which can only be circumscribed if and when the National
Assembly imposes lawful conditions for that purpose; and
·
If the answer to this question is also in the
affirmative, whether the Code of Conduct Bureau’s refusal to give MRA
access to the assets declarations made by the affected public officers,
whose names are listed in the Schedule to the Originating Summons, is not
unconstitutional.
In an 11-point affidavit in support of the Originating
Summons, deposed to by Mr. Ojo, MRA noted that by various provisions of
the 1999 Constitution, executive, legislative and judicial public office
holders at all tiers of government are obliged to submit written
declarations of their assets to the Bureau before they take their oaths of
office and that the objective of this exercise is “to establish and
maintain a high standard of morality in the conduct of Government business
and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to
the highest standards of public morality and accountability”, as stated in
Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Chapter 56, Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.
MRA said it was concerned that there have been major
violations of the provisions of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers
set out in the Constitution and, in particular, that a number of executive
and legislative public office holders have assumed their various offices
without submitting declarations of their assets to the Bureau, as
stipulated by the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
Mr. Ojo deposed that on June 21, MRA wrote to the Bureau
to express these concerns and requested that it be allowed to inspect
copies of assets declarations submitted by the 40 public officers.
But, according to Mr. Ojo, in its response dated July 5,
the Bureau did not refute or allay these concerns expressed by MRA, but
merely stated that “the National Assembly is yet to prescribe … terms and
conditions to give effect to the exercise and enforcement of the
provisions of paragraph 3[c] of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the …
Constitution” and then refused the request made by MRA to be allowed to
inspect the assets declarations in its possession.
Saying that a dispute has arisen between the parties, which
can be resolved through the questions formulated in the Originating
Summons, MRA is asking the court to declare that every Nigerian citizen
has a right to ensure that Nigerian public office holders comply with the
provisions of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and that this right
also confers on every citizen, by necessary implication, a right of access
to assets declaration forms submitted to the Bureau by public officers.
It also wants a declaration that the true interpretation
and effect of Section 3[c] of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999
Constitution is that every Nigerian citizen, prima facie, has an
uninhibited right of access to assets declarations made by public
officers, which can be circumscribed only if the National Assembly imposes
lawful conditions for that purpose, and that the Bureau’s refusal to allow
MRA access to assets declarations made by the 40 public officers is
unconstitutional.
MRA is also seeking an order of mandatory injunction
compelling the Bureau to allow it to inspect copies of asset declarations
submitted to the Bureau by the public officers.
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