[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile I may seem impressed by the seemingly ‘austere’ declaration of assets released a few hours ago by the President’s media team, I must say I’m not easily taken in by the veiled subterfuge of the declaration which any logical mind would probe.
It’s commendable that the President is a ‘Landlord’ with declared 7 houses in some cities in Nigeria, including Abuja but what the media release of the declaration FAILED or deliberately avoided to disclose was THE PRESENT WORTH of those properties, especially the House in Abuja.
I am not fooled by the N30 million Naira ‘only’ in the President’s bank account as many are going giddy with the disclosure. That is cash savings, perhaps. What is paramount is the worth in total of all the President has in life. I can bet if that is computed very well, the President may be worth up to a couple of billions.
It was reported by Breaking Times a few weeks back that Buhari owns the sprawling house at Number 9, Udo Udoma Street in the highbrow Asokoro district in Abuja. I was in that house a few months back to pay my condolences to the family of the late Oronto Douglas, who was one of the tenants in the compound and I have an idea of the perceived worth of that property just on face value.
The President’s men haven’t denied that report ever since it broke out and that may be taken to mean that there might be a ring of truth in the story. Breaking Times in its report evaluates the present worth of that house to be about TWO BILLION NAIRA.
So, if indeed we add the value of those houses to the declared cattle and cash, common sense would tell anyone that the President is worth billions in assets. Billions.
Just to set records straight, I don’t have to applaud President Buhari for declaring his assets. Other Presidents before him since 1999 did it. It’s a constitutional Duty. President Obasanjo did his and the law gave him the discretion on either making his assets public or private. President Yar’Adua did the same and decided to make his public with his total assets worth close to a billion naira million in 2007, if I remember correctly. President Jonathan’s assets then was about N3 billion , if I remember very well too.
That President Buhari made his public is not the stuff to make me giddy. Neither am I giddy with excitement at the sexed-up ‘austere’ figures.
For a caring father who could afford to send his kids to the best schools in the United Kingdom all these years before he became President, it stands to reason that President Buhari somehow is loaded.
I wish him well though.
Charles Novia is an award-winning filmmaker. He is founder of November Productions and November Records. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
