Buhari, Osinbajo make assets public

ABUJA —President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo have made known their assets, with the President declaring less than N30 million and his deputy a cash balance of N94 million and US$900,000 in his bank accounts.

The assets, which were still being verified by the Code of Conduct Bureau, it was learned, also showed the President to have shareholdings in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank with a total of seven houses including two mud houses.

The President has two houses in Kaduna and one each in Kano, Daura and in Abuja. The two mud houses are in his native Daura. One was inherited from his late elder sister, another from his late father. He reportedly borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes.

President Buhari, according to the documents, has two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt. He is believed to be still trying to trace the location of the land in Port-Harcourt.

The President also has farms, an orchard and a ranch. The total number of his holdings in the farm, according to sources privy to the declaration, include 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees.

The President is also reported to have 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 SUV was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014.

Osinbajo’s assets

Vice-President Osinbajo, according to the assets declaration has a 4-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos;  a 3-bedroom flat at  2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi and a 2-bedroom flat in the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The Vice-president also has a 2-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England.

The Vice-President also has shareholdings in his law firm, SimmonsCooper and in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd. and MTN Nigeria.

The Vice-President’s bank balance, at inauguration showed him to have about N94 million, US$900,000 and £19,000 in Nigerian banks. The foreign currencies are in domiciliary accounts in Nigerian banks.

His vehicles, according to the declared assets include one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado SUV.

Sources close to the President said yesterday that the declaration of the President’s assets showed the austere life of General Buhari who before now was a Head of State, Minister of Petroleum, former military governor and member of the Supreme Military Council.

“This is entirely unlike what one  might expect from a former head of state of a country like Nigeria,” a source who was given  the document to handle said. The President, according to the declaration, does not have any oil well or foreign assets.

“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,” the source said.