Believe Strongly in Assets Declaration, Says VP
By Tokunbo Adedoja, 07.31.2007

Following conflicting interpretations given to his recent comments on declaration of assets publicly by political office holders, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan  has clarified that he believes strongly in the principle of assets declaration by public officers. He said he had infact declared his assets seven times in the past eight years including a recent one following his assumption of office as Vice President.
A statement issued yesterday by Ima Niboro, Senior Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the Vice President dispelled insinuations that Jonathan was intransigent on the issue of assets’ declaration. 
The statement said the Vice President was embarrassed "at the alarming headline with which Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s remarks at an interactive session with journalists in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, over the weekend, were captured thereby giving the wrong notion that he was against assets declaration,” Niboro pointed out.
"I want to note that the Vice President never at any point said he would not make public his assets.  The fact is that he has seven times in total, before the Code of Conduct Bureau, which is the public  institution charged with the issue of assets declaration. "Dr. Jonathan’s first declaration was on inauguration as Deputy Governor, the second at the end of the first tenure. His third declaration was at the beginning of the second tenure as deputy governor while the fourth was at the end of that tenure. The fifth declaration was on inauguration as governor; the sixth was to close out that tenure, and the seventh, on inauguration as Vice President."   The Vice President's spokesman said Jonathan had pointed out in that session with newsmen that he fulfilled all particulars of the law concerning his assets declaration and that he has done so consistently since he was deputy governor of Bayelsa State.

He pointed out that his choice to declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau was guided by the fact that he has always declared in that manner, even as he commended President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who by choice has always published his declarations. The Vice President expressed sadness that theb slant given the story by some reporters had created  a negative impression  in the minds of the reading public aboutb his disposition to the matter of assets declaration. He stated that he was not aversed to making assets declaration by public officers public.

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