90 percent politicians guilty of false asset declaration—Okunrounmi

Senator Femi Okunrounmu has hailed the ongoing anti-corruption crusade and the legal battles against politicians for false declaration of assets saying 90 percent of them were guilty of the offence.

The Chairman of the 2014 National Conference Convocation Committee, who spoke with newsmen on the sideline during the 80th birthday celebration of the founder of O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, in Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday, said all those who have run foul of the law should be brought to book.

“It should cover all the people who are guilty, not just target a few individuals.

“Ninety per cent of politicians declare assets falsely, so the law should go after all the people that are guilty of such false declaration of assets, try them and bring them to justice.

“They shouldn’t just target one or two people,” he said.

Reflecting on the 2014 National Confab, Okunrounmu said the All Progressives Congress (APC) had always been opposed to it right from the onset .

Read also: Afenifere scold Arewa for opposing confab report

The APC is now the ruling party but the confab was organized then by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“May be, the Constitution is favourable to some parts of the North; many northern APC leaders have always opposed a national confab.

“May be, one can understand why they oppose a confab, but those who know how the current Constitution came to being know that it was fashioned by successive military rulers, mostly from the north,” he said.

He also noted that the southern wing of the APC, led by Sen. Ahmed Tinubu, had always agitated for a national conference, but surprisingly opposed the 2014 confab for what he described as “political reasons”.

The former lawmaker also spoke on the delay in the appointment of ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it was against the law for the president to rule without ministers.

His words:“Even though there is no specification on the number of days within which he must send the names of ministers, any governance without ministers is governance as sole administrator which is not provided for in the constitution”.

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