A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammadu Sanusi II, met with his former principal, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on Thursday in Abuja.
OsunDailyNG reports that today’s meeting is their first public meeting in 10 years.
It could be recalled that in 2014, Sanusi was suspended from his position as CBN governor under the administration of President Jonathan.
His suspension comes after he raised an alarm that $49.8 billion was missing under the then government.
It is worth noting that Sanusi’s revelation generated serious controversy, with both men failing to see eye to eye.
However, at the launch of “Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World”, a book edited by Shamsuddeen Usman, former Finance Minister, both Sanusi and Jonathan reconnected, and they exchanged pleasantries.
In his chapter in the book, Sanusi referred to the incident which led to his exit from the bank.
Jonathan’s Denial
Jonathan, who chaired the event, took yet another time to deny the claims that such a humongous amount went missing under his administration.
“I need to say why I did not quite agree with him. All that he wrote was on some of the issues, especially the one that is related to me. The one he raised was that he was sacked because he blew the whistle that the federal government lost $49.8 billion. It’s not quite correct. It was not that he was sacked. He was suspended,” the former President said.
Jonathan reiterated that the Financial Reporting Council of CBN, which has the power to ordain the CBN governor, needed to look at the allegations, but somehow, the time was short.
“So, before we finished, his tenure was already over, well, probably we would have called him back,” he said.
‘It’s Inappropriate For Me To Turn This Into A Debate’ – Sanusi Replies Jonathan
Speaking shortly after Jonathan’s opening speech, Sanusi, who was a Special Guest of Honour, addressed the former President as “My Boss that sacked me.”
The Emir of Kano, however, noted that though many people were already expecting to hear him reply Jonathan, it was inappropriate for him (Sanusi) to turn the book launch event into a debate with the former President.
He said: “I know everyone is expecting me to respond, but I will not respond.”
“When I was told to make a speech, I told Shamsuddeen Usman that I will not speak about my intervention out of respect for my boss, the President.”
“I feel most inappropriate for this to turn into a debate. It’s not about me or the President, it’s really about Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman today and his book. I always knew my chapter would be controversial when Dr. Usman asked me to write.
“I said, this topic is so similar to my book. You’re making me begin to reveal some of the things that are in my head. In other words, when I wrote that chapter, that’s it for me.
“I’ll make a few remarks. First of all, I continue to respect my President, Jonathan. I do not have any grudges against anyone.”
While maintaining that the most important thing for him is not about personalities, Sanusi said, “I think what comes out of my chapter, like in the book, is something that we all know. Which is that for decades, the Nigerian state has been captive to elites class that sees the state as a site.
“This is a fact, and this is what has destroyed Nigeria. People get into office, and when they get into office, what they’re thinking of is how much they can make out of the state, rather than how they can use the state to serve the citizens. If we agree on that, we have no disagreements.
“Why is Nigeria where it is today? I mean, you referred to the Dangote Refinery. I don’t know what the details are. For a country feeding itself from imported petroleum products, instead of grabbing this opportunity, you know with open arms, we are frustrating it.
“Why would anyone stop us from having the capacity to produce our own refined petroleum products? Because there are vested interests who have profited from Nigeria continuing to import these products.
“They could be all marketers internationally. They could be people locally who have been profiting from these subsidy stamps. And this is the end, because every excuse disappears when you are not getting imported, and you are disembarking.”
Sanusi praised the author for his significant contributions to the nation’s development.
Sanusi noted that the author had been his lecturer and collaborated with him at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The occasion marked the official launch of the Shamsuddeen Usman Foundation (SUF), which was established and registered by his children in his memory and aimed at advancing education within the country.
Usman served as Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2009, Minister of National Planning from 2009 to 2013, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, and was also the founding Director General of the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (now known as the Bureau of Public Enterprises).
