Assets: Ex-LG Chairmen May Face Tribunal

Former local government
council chairmen in Rivers State may face Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Tribunal over failure to declare their assets after leaving office.
The Rivers State Coordinator of CCB, Mrs.  Sotonye  Isokariari, in an exclusive chat with The Tide said the former council chairmen have barely one week to comply or face the bureau’s tribunal and other penalties.
Isokariari said, “It’s constitutional to declare your assets while coming in and out of office”.Any statement found to be false is considered a breach of the law.”
The CCB head also called on the 21 newly inaugurated caretaker committee members to pick their asset declaration forms, fill and return them latest by the 11th of next month.
She advised political office holders to take assets declaration serious saying that it is a constitutional obligation for one to declare his or her assets once he or she occupies a public office.
While commending civil servants in the state for complying almost 90 per cent in declaring their assets, she revealed that some workers in the tertiary educational institutions have not complied, and urged them to do so to avoid unpleasant consequences.
“What we are now trying to do is to mop up the remaining tertiary institutions, most of them have complied but I think that their heads need to educate them on the need to declare their assets,” Mrs. Isokariari stressed.
Commenting on plans to establish CCB offices in the local government areas, Mrs Isokariari said the bureau was yet to approve such moves, and therefore, urged all government workers to come to the bureau’s office in Port Harcourt to pick their forms.
She also noted that the body was only concentrating on civil servants and political office holders as there was no directive to compel those in the private sector to declare their assets.

Former Director, Ministry of Information & Communications, Mr Samuel Iyoyo (left) representing Commissioner for Information and Communications with General Manager, Rivers State Television, Mr Tonye Ekong, during the day of the African Child 2014 celebration organised by Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation in conjuction with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Ministry of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation in Port Harcourt last Monday. Photo: Egberi .A. Sampson