Enugu Governor-elect declares assets ahead of inauguration

The Governor-elect of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, has declared his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) ahead of his inauguration as governor on 29 May.

Mr Mbah, elected governor of the state on 18 March, submitted his asset declaration forms at the South-east Zonal office of the CCB on Friday in Enugu.

The Federal Commissioner in charge of the South-east Zone of the CCB in the state, Benedict Umeano, received the forms.

The governor-elect told reporters, shortly after submitting the forms, that the declaration of assets was important in the promotion of transparency and accountability in governance.

“As the chief executive, we are meant to uphold the law. It is also incumbent on us to act lawfully, and what we have simply done here today is in line with the new direction of my career,” Mr Mbah, a lawyer, said.

“As you also know, I am now migrating from the corporate environment to the public sector; in the private sector, we have codes of corporate governance, and here in the public sector, we also have the Code of Conduct for the public servants.

“What we have simply done today is to comply with the requirements of the law by filling the forms as stipulated by law,” he added.

The governor-elect described the process of the asset declaration as “seamless” and expressed happiness for “complying with the requirements” of the law.

“My administration shall be upholding these requirements for all public officers. It is mandatory, and it’s not an option. As public servants, we are not left with any option but to fill out our CCB forms. We must abide by the provisions of the law,” he stated.

CCB speaks

On his part, the CCB Commissioner in the state, Mr Umeano, commended the governor for “leading by example” by declaring his assets ahead of the inauguration.

“By the grace of God, by Monday, he (Mbah) will be the chief law officer of the state. By this submission, he has shown that he is going to lead by example,” he said.

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“He has given a good example to the rest of the other politicians and even those who are going to be his functionaries that they have to comply with the rule of law. We commend him for this,” Mr Umeano, a lawyer, said.

What the law says

Section 153 of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution requires public officers to declare their assets to the CCB on the assumption of office and at the end of the service.

Also, Section 3(c) of the Third Schedule of the constitution empowers the CCB to retain custody of the declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on terms and conditions prescribed by the National Assembly.