The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has on
\nThursday disclosed his involvement in the \u2019leaked\u2019 secret letter written
\nby former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido
\nSanusi to former President Goodluck Jonathan.<\/p>\n
Recall that Sanusi had earlier reveled an interview with Forbes Africa
\nMagazine, that Amaechi was responsible for leaking to Obasanjo a letter he
\nwrote to Jonathan on the \u201cmissing\u201d $49.8 billion oil revenues.<\/p>\n
Amaechi who reacted in a statement signed by his media office emphasized
\nthat the role he played on the issue was in the best interest of the
\nnation and Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Read the statement in full,\u201dOur attention has been drawn to reports in the
\nmedia that tends to infer and\/or suggest that immediate past governor of
\nRivers State and now Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
\nAmaechi surreptitiously and clandestinely \u2018leaked\u2019 a letter written by
\nformer Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi
\nMuhammad 11 to then President Goodluck Jonathan on the non-remittance of
\n$49.8 billion from oil sale to the federation account. This is further
\nfrom the truth and what exactly transpired as regards Amaechi\u2019s
\ninvolvement in that Sanusi letter.<\/p>\n
To put the records straight, we want to categorically state that: A
\nconcerned and patriotic Nigerian who felt sufficiently troubled with what
\nwas happening then, gave a copy of the Sanusi letter to Amaechi in
\nAmaechi\u2019s capacity as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors\u2019 Forum (NGF).
\nLike Amaechi, we should appreciate that concerned Nigerian\u2019s patriotism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Amaechi got the letter, he spoke with Sanusi who was still the CBN
\ngovernor to confirm the authenticity of the letter. Sanusi confirmed to
\nAmaechi that he wrote the letter. During their conversation, Amaechi made
\nit abundantly clear to the then CBN governor that the bleeding of the
\nnation had to be stopped, all non-remitted funds remitted and that he
\n(Amaechi) was going to use the letter to do whatever is in the best
\ninterest of the nation and Nigerians, which was the stoppage of the
\nnon-remittance and the recovery of all the non-remitted funds from oil
\nsale. The CBN Governor didn\u2019t agree with Amaechi on the way
\nforward.Considering that the letter was given to Amaechi as Chairman of
\nthe Governors\u2019 Forum, he shared the letter with his colleague governors
\nfirst, and with Senator Bukola Saraki (now Senate President), who before
\nand around that period was doing some work or\/and investigation around the
\noil sector in the senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around that period, a delegation from the United States of America
\ngovernment, from the offices of the Secretaries of State and Defense
\nvisited Amaechi in Port Harcourt to discuss the issue of oil theft in
\nNigeria. From their records, they gave Amaechi figures of billions of
\ndollars (about $7 billion dollars, annually) that was being lost to oil
\ntheft in Nigeria.They were discussing the issue and figures of oil theft,
\nand that was how the CBN governor\u2019s letter to President Jonathan came up.
\nIn the presence of journalists covering the visit, Amaechi brought out the
\nSanusi letter to the visiting American delegation to buttress the point
\nthat Nigeria was losing far more money to non-remittance of proceeds from
\noil sale into the federation account, which everyone seemed to concur, was
\nin itself, another form and another dimension to the issue of oil theft.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo suggest, infer or even extrapolate that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
\nAmaechi surreptitiously, clandestinely or underhandedly \u2018leaked\u2019 the CBN
\ngovernor\u2019s (Sanusi\u2019s) letter is indeed most unfair, disrespectful and
\nuncharitable to his person. Amaechi did what he did because he believed
\nthat the theft and corruption was just too much. He was propelled by his
\npatriotic zeal to put Nigeria first, do what is in the best interest of
\nthe nation and Nigerians, and stop the bleeding and sucking of our
\ncollective resources by a tiny few.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mind boggling corruption revelations in the recent past, that is
\nstill ongoing clearly justifies and vindicates Amaechi\u2019s stance on the
\nissue and the actions he took. Faced with the same situation, under
\nsimilar circumstances, Amaechi will not act differently. The good of
\nNigeria, putting the nation and Nigerians first, will always be his
\nguiding principle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has on Thursday disclosed his involvement in the \u2019leaked\u2019 secret letter written by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n