By Sylvester Okoro
\nWhen Sanusi Lamido Sanusi lost his job,
\nand chose to head for Lagos rather than Abuja where he had a home, many
\ndid not
\nread much meaning into it, until it emerged that he was received by All
\nProgressives Congress (APC) chieftains led by, none other than one like him,
\nMallam Nasir el Rufai, in posh cars made available by prominent Lagosians.
\nThat singular act confirmed stories
\nthat had been going the rounds in exclusive circles that some of the
\nchieftains
\nof the party had met with the financial rabble rouser in one of the financial
\ncapitals of the world, and perfected a grand plan to ruffle Abuja
\nfeathers, as
\na step to gain political capital and preparatory to his joining the party.
\nEither he neglected to tell them his alleged
\nfinancial misdemeanours or he told them and the plot was to get him out
\nthere,
\nmaking so much noise about the always-tainted Nigerian National Petroleum
\nCorporation (NNPC) so that any disciplinary measure against him would be seen
\nas persecution.
\nBut he succeeded halfway as it has now
\nemerged he was rotten to the core and operated a house muddied by alleged
\nfinancial recklessness of the highest order. \u00c2 To think that President
\nGoodluck Jonathan had
\nthis information since June, last year, and did nothing about it is, to
\nsay the
\nleast, either an evidence of his naivety or a large-heartedness that is
\nnot for
\na clime like ours.
\nIt is much more confounding that with
\nall this information, Jonathan tried persuading the Emperor of Nigeria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nfinancial institutions to resign but rebuffed him and perhaps told the
\nstory of
\nhis encounter with the president on phone to THISDAY newspapers that
\ncarried it
\nweeks ago.\u00c2 It is therefore no wonder
\nthat, now that the APC deep-throat in government has fallen from his high
\nhorse, those presenting warped logic over his sack are apologists from the
\nAPC.
\nLagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola,
\nsaid: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You see, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand this kind of economic management.
\nIf the man
\nis going in June, there must be a sense in which messaging about executive
\ntampering with the independence of the Central Bank has economic consequences
\nfor investor positioning.\u00c2 This is not a
\nsuspension; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sack really because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no power to
\nsack him
\nand they have\u00c2 looked and looked and looked and they have said: we suspend.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sack really.\u00c2 The message you are
\nsending out is that it is better to keep quiet about corruption.
\n\u00c2 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what it seems to me.\u00e2\u20ac
\nIs that so, suddenly-loquacious
\nGovernor Fashola? \u00c2 \u00c2 Would you dare take
\non Tinubu the way Sanusi took on Jonathan? \u00c2 We all know you would be
\nimpeached within the
\nfive working days of the wee; so, stop pontificating.\u00c2 Fashola said
\nfurther, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For me really, if
\nsomeone in my government tells me that some money is missing and without
\nconcluding any investigation, they suspended the person who blew the whistle.
\nIt is when the audit is concluded that they can now decide what to do to the
\nman.\u00c2 But now, before the completion of
\nthe audit, they have sacked the man who alerted the head of the government
\nthat
\nmoney is missing.\u00e2\u20ac
\nInteresting! Why not hire an audit firm
\nfrom Chicago to audit the tax system in Lagos State since you became governor
\nand see whether Lagosians, at least the true ones, will allow you to sit in
\nAlausa, and continue to report to that godfather of yours. \u00c2 And who,
\nexcept Sanusi, is saying that money
\nis missing? \u00c2 In the legal profession
\nwhere you came from, does the word of one inconsistent loud talking banker
\nconfirm a misdeed, even if there was one?
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So what message is the presidency
\nsending out to Nigerians on corruption and others who may want to reveal any
\natrocity committed in the country?\u00e2\u20ac you asked sir, and you went ahead to
\nanswer
\nthe same question thus: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The message the presidency is sending out is that
\nNigerians should keep quiet whenever they see any corruption perpetrated
\nin the
\ncountry. That is not a good sign for the economy.\u00e2\u20ac
\nYour Excellency, you are completely
\nwrong, and if your sense of history does not serve you well, I will remind
\nyou
\nthat no one in all our history has been able to cow us as has been done in
\nother climes, even western ones. \u00c2 You
\nwant an example, Sir? I will give you only one: Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. \u00c2 He
\nhas been running riot with his mouth for
\nthe past three years like a political governor rather than a financial one
\nwho
\nshould not rock the boat of state; but remained there because the President,
\nfor some inexplicable reason, trusted him and knew Nigerians wanted a breed
\nlike him. \u00c2 But it got into his head, and
\nif you read the papers with their deluge of his alleged financial
\nrecklessness,
\nit also got into his pocket.
\nGovernor Fashola, please, remove your
\nAPC toga for a few minutes and answer this question: should such a man have
\nbeen retained?\u00c2 Should the amiable
\nLagos Governor not be aware, may be it would be necessary for him to be told
\nthat the President had been told since the first week of June last year, a
\nclear eight months and three weeks ago, to fire the man and his deputies.
\nAs a newspaper put it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the decision
\nto suspend the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido was based on a
\nreport of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria dated June 7, 2013. The
\nreport was made after a review of Sanusi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response to the query issued
\nto him
\nby the President over the apex bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s financial statement of 2012. His
\nresponse
\nwas dated May 20, 2013.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153According to a copy of the report
\nobtained by our correspondent on Thursday, the council indicates that the
\nexplanation provided by the suspended CBN governor is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dca clear display of
\nincompetence, nonchalance, fraud, wastefulness, and abuse of due process and
\ndeliberate efforts to misrepresent facts on the part of the leadership of the
\nCBN.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2 The council advised the President
\nto exercise the powers conferred on him by Section 11(2)(f) of the CBN Act
\n2007
\nor invoke Section 11(2)(c) of the said Act \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcand cause the governor and the
\ndeputy governors to cease from holding office in the CBN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac
\nWhat more is there to say about this
\nprince of Kano who rattled about like a commoner; was un-princely to the
\nextent
\nthat he was once alleged to have been involved in some social
\npeccadillo?\u00c2 Those things that have been propelling him to
\nengage in a macabre dance will fully unravel in the next few weeks or months,
\nno doubt. \u00c2 \u00c2
\n* \u00c2 Okoro sent this piece from Lagos via sylvesterokoro2013@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sylvester Okoro When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi lost his job, and chose to head for Lagos rather than Abuja where he had a home, many did not read much meaning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n