President Muhammadu Buhari, Osinbajo Make Assets Public

President Muhammadu Buhari had less than N30 million to his name when he was sworn in on May 29. He also had no foreign account and neither had he a registered company nor an oil well.

This is contained in a document submitted by the president and his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as part of their asset declaration.

The document also revealed that the vice president, a successful lawyer before joining politics, had about N94 million and $900,000 in his bank accounts.

The special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, quoted Buhari as declaring in the documents that he had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.

Shehu said the documents show that Buhari, a retired general, had indeed “been living an austere and Spartan lifestyle, contrary to what many might expect of a former head of state of Nigeria and one who has held a number of top government positions, such as governor, minister of petroleum and the head of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).”

According to the presidential spokesman, CCB officials are still vetting the documents and would make them available to the public soon.

Shehu said the documents “show that prior to being sworn in on May 29, President Buhari had less than N30 million to his name.

“He also had only one bank account, with the Union Bank. President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no enterprises. He also had no registered company and no oil wells.”

The documents also revealed that President Buhari had a total of five homes and two mud houses in Daura, two homes in Kaduna, one each in Kano, Daura and in Abuja.

“One of the mud houses in Daura was inherited from his late older sister, another from his late father. He borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes,” Shehu quoted the document.

The document also show that President Buhari owns two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt, adding that “he is still trying to trace the location of the Port Harcourt land.”

“In addition to the homes in Daura, he has farms, an orchard and a ranch,” Shehu further said. “The total number of his holdings in the farm include 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of trees.

“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 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.”

For Vice President Osinbajo, the documents listed his assets to include his 4-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos; a 3-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi; a 2-bedroom flat at the popular Redemption Camp along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and a 2-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England.

Apart from these, Osinbajo has no other landed properties on the form.

Apart from his law firm, known as SimmonsCooper, the vice-president also declared shareholding in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd and MTN Nigeria.

Details shown on the form also indicate that the vice president has about N94 million, $900,000 and 19,000 Pound Sterlings in Nigerian banks, with the foreign currencies kept in local domiciliary accounts.

His personal vehicles are listed to include one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado Jeep.

“As soon as the CCB is through with the process, the documents will be released to the Nigerian public and people can see for themselves,” Shehu said.