Sanusi explodes says Jonathan’s aides fraudulent, unfit

EMBATTLED Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was suspended from office last Thursday by President Goodluck Jonathan, said yesterday, that the president’s greatest failing was that he is “surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts”.

Mallam Sanusi, who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP), on a day the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress traded tackles on the propriety of suspending him, appeared resolute in his allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, declaring that, “if I am sacrificed in whatever way, my freedom or my life… if it does lead to better accountability it will be well worth it”.

In an interview with AFP in Lagos, Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly about the extent of corruption in government.

He said: “When you sit with President Jonathan himself, he appears a nice, simple person, who is trying his best to do his best. However, his greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts.”

The former CBN governor, who learnt of his removal while he was attending a regional meeting of CBN governors in Niger Republic, immediately returned to the country and had his passport seized by the Directorate of State Services, DSS. Last Friday, he secured a temporary order from the Federal High Court, Lagos barring the DSS or the police from arresting him.

Speaking on the seizure of his passport, Sanusi said: “I thought taking away my passport was the beginning of infringement on my fundamental human rights,”explaining that he had already sought court protection over it.

Regarding the allegations against him, Sanusi said he had earlier this year heard of a report condemning his performance and wrote to President Jonathan in “June or July” asking if an explanation was needed, but that he received no reply. According to him, the “first time I was formally notified about the allegations was the day I was suspended”, arguing that it would be too simple to describe his removal as payback for his attacks on the NNPC.

He further said: “Since 2009, I have been annoying the government. You’ve got people who think I have the wrong friends, people who think maybe I have not distanced myself enough from people who are seen to be opposition figures”.

On his face-off with the NNPC, Sanusi told the AFP that the extent of the graft may have reached a historic height, saying, “I think everybody has known that NNPC is rotten. I don’t think it has ever been as bad as this”.

According to Sanusi, the so-called kerosene subsidy money in fact pays for “private jets…yachts… and expensive property in Beverly Hills and Switzerland.”

Sanusi ruled out running for elected office, but said he may still have a future in public service.

In the short term, he expressed his readiness to face any attacks that may be coming from those he said are committed to preserving the status quo in a nation where, despite massive oil wealth, most people live in abject poverty.

Few hours after Sanusi was suspended, the president appointed Mrs Sarah Alade as Acting governor, while forwarding the name of Mr Godwin Emefiele to the Senate for approval as the new CBN governor.