Nigeria, March 16 -- The Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed an appeal seeking the disclosure of the details of assets declarations submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari and their deputies while they were in office.

A three-member panel of the court led by Hamman Barka unanimously ruled that the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2011 cannot be invoked to compel the CCB to release the assets declaration forms submitted by the public officers.

It ruled that the CCB, the custodian of the assets declaration forms, cannot release the details of such assets declarations to any member of the public unless on the terms and conditions prescribed by the National Assembly.

"This i...