NASS Principal Officers Should Declare Their Assets First – CACOL
Adetokunbo Fakeye
A group, Coalition against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has said the Senate should lead by example by compelling its principal officers to declare their assets first.
This came as a result of decision by the Senate to screen only ministerial nominees that can provide evidence of assets declaration has been condemned by an anti-corruption group.
Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Media and Publicity, Dino Melaye, had announced last week that, senators decided that each nominee must submit proof of their assets declaration, must have their nomination approved by two senators from their states, and must have a clean bill of health from its public petitions committee, among other conditions.
But in his reaction, the Chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran said that although the conditions seemed good, telling the nominees to declare their assets while those to screen them did not declare theirs was tantamount to adopting double-standards.
His words: “We are fully in support of it.
“As a matter of fact, we were the ones who first suggested it to Mr. President that any aspiring minister should be made to approach the CCB, fill their form, submit same and make it public.”
“However, the National Assembly should also cause its principal officers to make their assets declaration public. It is at that time that they will have moral authority and grounds to demand assets declaration from aspiring ministers.
“Nobody should be asked to bow and go. We are therefore fully in support of the demand for assets declaration; that is a place to start to assess their administration,” he stressed.
