Mrs. Jonathan yet to declare assets, months after resigning as Perm Sec, Group Threatens Legal Action

The Grassroots Initiative for Open and Democratic Governance in Nigeria,

GIODGN, has described as totally unacceptable and a flagrant abuse of the

laws of the land, the refusal of the outgoing First Lady of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria, Dame (Dr.) Patience Jonathan to declare her assets,

since she resigned her post as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State

Civil Service in October, 2014.
In a statement signed by the group's National President, Daniel Clapton

and the Secretary General, Godstime Innocent, the group notes that, the

First Lady's refusal to declare her assets after stepping down as

permanent secretary negates the provisions of the code of conduct act,

which
requires public servants to declare their assets before and after leaving

office.
Part of the statement reads “It is unacceptable and an abuse of our

existing laws for anybody, no matter how highly placed, to refuse to do

the needful, by not declaring his or her assets, nearly 7 months, after

voluntarily resigning from a position. Our institutions must be alive

to their responsibilities and that is the only way we can build a strong

and virile democracy for the present and future generations of our people”

The statement frowned at the inability of the relevant organs of the

government to enforce the existing laws of the land, stressing that, the

Code of Conduct Bureau, whose responsibility it is, in the case, should

act fast in the interest of the nation's nascent democracy.

It says, the failure of the Code of Conduct Bureau to perform its

statutory and constitutional duties, was not only a big drawback to the

nation's democracy, but a serious disservice to the people of Bayelsa

State, where she held the appointment between between July, 2012 and

October, 2014.
While, blaming both Mrs. Jonathan and the Code of Conduct Bureau for

this very obvious lapse, the group calls for an urgent reversal,

threatening to institute a legal action, if nothing is done within the

shortest possible time.
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