Keep my assets declaration form away from my opponents – Buhari tells CCB

President Muhammadu Buhari has told the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to ensure his opponents do not have access to his assets declaration form.

Mr Buhari stated this on Monday while receiving his assets declaration form from Muhammad Isa, the chairman of the CCB who presented it to the president at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The president is expected to fill his form and return it before being sworn in for a second term.

While receiving the forms, Buhari promised to quickly fill it and return same to the Bureau.

“I am very pleased that you are here. I assure you I will quickly fill this form and dispatch it to you,” the president said.

He added that when his second term winds down in 2023, some corrupt individuals will target him.

At the end of 2023, I believe there are a lot of people that will like to get back at me. So please, make sure you keep it safely because there are people who believe they shouldn’t be questioned and some of them are already in trouble.

“I expect them to fight back and this is one of the instruments. So, I hope you will keep it. Thank you very much indeed,” he added.

During his days in the opposition, Buhari had promised to publicly declare his assets if elected president. He is yet to do so since he took over the mantle of leadership in the country.

When asked about it, he referred those seeking the documents to the CCB. Enquiries to the agency to make public the declaration form of the president has not been fruitful as it continues to turn down several requests.

However, in September 2015, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, released a statement saying the president had less than N30 million to his name before he took office on May 29, 2015.

According to the statement, Buhari owned five houses in Kaduna, Daura, Kano and Abuja, and has two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

He added that Buhari had farms, an orchard, ranch, livestock including 270 cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees.

Shehu also said the president had “one bank account with the Union Bank, no foreign account, no factory, no enterprises, and no oil wells” and two of his houses in Daura are “mud-made”.

“He borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes,” he had said.

“The documents also showed that the retired general uses a number of cars, two of which he bought from his savings and the others supplied to him by the federal government in his capacity as a former Head of State. The rest were donated to him by well-wishers after his jeep was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014.”