Vice President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday made details of his Assets declaration Public .
He put his Total Assets which he had earlier declared before the Code of Conduct Bureau at N295, 304, 420 million.
The Public declaration of the Assets came nine weeks after Jonathan assumed office and five weeks after President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua publicly released his own Assets , which he put at N856.64 million.
Jonathan had come under strident attack for refusing to toe the President’s line by making his Assets declaration form open though he had complied with the constitutional provision by declaring his Assets before assuming office.
The Senior Special Assistant to the vice president on Media and Communications, Mr. Ima Niboro, who released details of the Assets declaration to State House Correspondents yesterday, stated that the decision by the Vice President to change his mind “merely shows that in the Affairs of Man , there comes a time when even the Law must take a second place, and the Public mood must define our actions.
“To the Vice President, this is such a time, hence the choice to send you a copy of his declaration for publication. There is nothing to hide, as you can very well see!”
Details of the Assets declared on May 30, 2007 before Mr. Justice Muktar N. Dodo of Abuja High Court, show that the vice president has no foreign account or Assets and owns only one car (BMW) in Abuja given to him as a gift and valued at N15,800,000 million.
Private buildings declared by the vice president stood at N67, 990,000 million. This includes a four-bedroom duplex in Kpansia, Yenagoa, valued at N15 million; a four-flat storey extension of the family House in Yenagoa valued at N10 million; seven-bedroom village personal home at Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government , which was bombed days before his inauguration as vice president, valued at N18 million, and a five-bedroom Abuja personal residence in Gwarinpa valued at N24.99 million.
Under the vehicles and household items, the vice president declared Total Assets of N41.8 million. They include the BMW car in Abuja and generators, electronics, Air conditioners, furniture, kitchen utensils and others in Kpansia, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Ogbia LG and Gwarimpa valued at N26 million.
The items were said to have been procured from Savings and gifts.
He also put the vacant and undeveloped plots owned by him at N60.538 million.
These comprise five undeveloped plots of land in Bayelsa , two undeveloped plots of land in Cadastral Zone BO2 and AO6 Abuja .
A Total of N62, 072 million were yields from Investments . The Investments Are in stocks managed by City -Code Trust & Investment Company Limited .
According to the Assets declaration form, the vice president has sixteen different stocks in some Blue chip Companies in the country.
Under the income-yielding Investments section, the vice president declared that as at May, 25, 2007, he had 8,666 shares in Cadbury PLC valued at N264,313; Flour Mills PLC , 8,466 shares valued at N635,119.32; Guinness Nigeria PLC 6,395 shares valued at N796,177.50; Unilever 18,750 shares valued at N337,500; Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 23,466 shares valued at N727,446; Fidelity Bank PLC 33,333 shares valued at N296,663.70, and UBA PLC 180,000 shares valued at N6,838,200.
Others included Access Bank PLC 84,656 shares valued at N1,635,553.92; Cadbury PLC 2,500 shares valued at N76,250; Union Bank PLC 716,109 shares valued at N22,199,379; First Bank PLC 20,000 shares valued at N808,000; Flour Mills PLC 13,333 shares valued at N1,000,241,66; Nigerian Breweries PLC 10,000 shares valued at N363,000; Bank PHB PLC 866,666 shares valued at N24,959,980.80 and Oando 15,125 shares valued at N1,134,375.
Jonathan also has four 16- seater passenger boats which Are for hiring by Companies and other Agencies .
The vice president’s Total cash in banks in the country namely Bank PHB , Union Bank of Nigeria PLC , UBA and others Are put at N58, 984, 123 million while his Total income includes personal Savings and income from his Investments as well as performing stocks and hiring of the boats.
Ima Niboro, however, said the Assets declared do not include those of the vice president’s wife, Patience, because, according to him, “the wife of the vice president is a Public officer, being a Staff of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education , Yenagoa. She could, on her own, being in service, declare her Assets through the laid down procedures.” As for the vice president’s children, he said, “being under the mandatory age of 18, they do not own Assets .”
Speaking further on why the vice president changed his mind to make Public his Assets declaration, he noted that “there is no question that the issue of the publication of the vice president’s Assets declaration has been the source of vigorous debate in the mass media in the past week or so. There have been strong opinions on both sides of this emerging, if unnecessary, divide.
“His Excellency, the Vice President, is a firm believer in the rule of Law, and this has guided his conduct in Public office through the years. It is this Belief that also guided his position that having fulfilled the requirements of the Law by declaring his Assets for a Total of seven Times , there was no point in going further to publish the declaration.”
He said it was regrettable that “this position has generated an unfortunate storm, which is not only distractive but also quite unnecessary. We Are worried that some newspapers and citizens we hold in high esteem have joined the fray. To the vice president, this is such a time, hence the choice to send you a copy of his declaration for publication. There is nothing to hide, as you can very well see!”
Sources have however disclosed that the vice president had sent copies of his declared Assets to some leaders in the Niger Delta region before making yesterday’s declaration.