Another group named the Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade,
FHRACC, Sunday, in Warri, Delta State, said it will take obligatory
legal steps to induce President Muhammadu Buhari to make his health
status and money spent to care for himself in the United Kingdom open to
Nigerians. President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the country two weeks ago with
everything about his health and the amount spent during his trip yet
undisclosed.
In a statement by the National president of the rights group, Alaowei
C. Ebikonbowei Esq., the group called on the government to do what is
right in the eyes of the law or face legal action.
The statement reads, “We are calling on the government to do what is
right in the eyes of the law; otherwise we may take some necessary legal
steps to compel it to do the right thing. President Buhari swore an
oath to protect the laws of the land and not to breach them with
impunity.
“President Mohammadu Buhari as a public figure is answerable to the
people who foot his bills, The President is being funded by the
taxpayers’ money and thus he is under obligation, both in law and under
all known conventional practices, to be accountable to the people who
gave him their mandates.
“It is safe to demand that Buhari should declare his health status to
Nigerians together with the money he has spent to treat himself in the
United Kingdom. Refusal of the government to disclose the money spent on
the President’s health is the greatest disservice to Nigerians.
“We are baffled with gross consternation over Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s
sermon that the money spent on Buhari’s health will not be disclosed for
security reasons.
“We believe that there is no security threat for Buhari to declare
his health status known to Nigerians and or furnish us with the money he
has spent on his health.
“Concealing such vital information from the prying public is to say
the least corruption itself. If security should be an excuse from
disclosing public money the government has spent on public servants,
then the law can also preclude public office holders from declaring
their assets as required by the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.
“Government should not give flimsy excuses in informing Nigerians of
what Buhari does with the public funds entrusted in his care. Now that
the government’s slogan is to rid public institutions of corruption, it
should not be seen committing an act that harbours corruption.
“The government cannot be flouting the relevant provisions of the
laws of the land, especially the Freedom of Information Act and the 1999
Constitution.
“It’ is for public good, public safety and public morality that Mr.
President inform Nigerians of the details of his health and how much he
has spent to treat himself.
“This is the demonstration of the government’s sincerity in upholding
its much chorused “Change Must Begin with Me” new national orientation
that it has introduced to Nigerians.”