The organisation made this known in a post on its Twitter handle on Wednesday.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on presidential candidates of various political parties to declare their assets ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The organisation made this known in a post on its Twitter handle on Wednesday.
“2023: Atiku: Immediately Publish Your Assets; 2023: Tinubu: Immediately Publish Your Assets; 2023: Obi: Immediately Publish Your Assets; 2023: Kwankwaso: Immediately Publish Your Assets," it said.
Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso are the presidential candidates of the All progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party and New Nigeria Peoples Party respectively.
Meanwhile, Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress has publicly declared his assets, making him the only presidential candidate for the 2023 election that has done so.
SERAP in June addressed an open letter to presidential candidates of political parties, encouraging them to promptly divulge information about their holdings and liabilities.
The group asked them to publicly condemn vote-buying and electoral bribery before and after the elections.
The organisation said in an open letter signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare on Saturday that the presidency is a public trust, and that voters deserve to hear from presidential candidates about what they will do about issues of public interest, particularly with respect to integrity, selflessness, openness, accountability, human rights, and the rule of law if elected.
It said, “While there is no constitutional requirement for presidential candidates to publish their assets and liabilities before elections, doing so would show that you can stand up for transparency in assets declaration by public officers if elected.
“The public office is a public trust. As such, the voters deserve to hear from presidential candidates regarding what they will do about issues of public interest, particularly with respect to integrity, selflessness, openness, accountability, human rights, and the rule of law if elected.
“As you and your parties prepare for presidential election campaigns, we hope that you will seize the opportunity to show your commitment to addressing these fundamental issues of public interest by immediately publishing details of your assets and rejecting vote buying, intimidation and harassment.
“Publicly committing to these issues will also show the voters that if elected you would act solely to protect the public interest; and avoid placing yourself under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence you in the discharge of your constitutional duties.
“The practice of vote-buying and electoral bribery by politicians have characterised elections in the country for many years, preventing political equality and fair electoral competition. Yet, nobody politics worthy of being called a democracy entrusts the selection of leaders to a process of auction or barter.”
“Vote-buying amounts to undue influence and improper electoral influence. When politicians buy votes, they reinforce social subjugation and do long-term damage to poor voters.
“Please let us know if you and your political party are willing to commit to some or all of the issues outlined in this letter,” the letter further read.