The suspended whistleblower governor of
the Nigeria's central bank may have to think again if he hopes senior former
colleagues will rally to his defence.
Lamido Sanusi was suspended last month
by the country's president after making explosive allegations about
embezzlement on a massive scale at the state oil company.
The events alarmed investors and
created a sense of scandal around the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. He
suspended Mr Sanusi citing "financial recklessness and misconduct" at
the central bank and ordered an investigation into him, but many in Nigeria
suspect the governor's fate was linked to the claims he had made on an
allegedly missing $20bn of oil revenue.
This week, speaking for the first time
about the affair, one of the Bank of Nigeria deputy governors, Kingsley
Moghalu, was keen to distance himself from his former boss and made clear that
he felt Mr Sanusi had overstepped his authority.
Discussing the Sanusi affair in the
sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva, he told the Independent:
"The lesson that can be drawn from it is the limits of central bank
independence... There is a very thin line between central bank independence
and... political posturing."
In support of President Jonathan's
government, he said: "The president of Nigeria and the government of
Nigeria have never in my knowledge interfered with the function of the central
bank. And therefore I think we need to give them credit for respecting [its]
independence."
He added: "The governor began to
make very damaging public allegations against the government... allegations
that have not been proven, after the president had sent him a presidential
query about the finances of the central bank. The government has given a reason
for the suspension and that was... to enable an investigation into the
allegations against him."
Bizarrely preferring not to mention Mr
Sanusi by name, he went on to say: "Somebody in the central bank was
taking on an activist political role. That is not our function. Central banks
over the world have clear functions and in your country [Britain] and any other
civilised country I know that central bank governors operate within certain
expectations and constraints and respect those expectations and
constraints."
He added that the central bank had
managed to contain the market fallout from the president's actions, pointing
out that he and his fellow deputy governors were in agreement with Dr Sanusi's
internationally well regarded position as an inflation hawk in favour of high
interest rates to keep a lid on prices.
"Life is back to normal," he
claimed.
However, with the ghost of an
investigation looming large over the most powerful banker in the country, and
the suspicion among many that he was suspended for speaking out, analysts say
Nigeria is far from being in a normal state.
The deputy governor Moghalu was named
as a possible sucessor to Mr Sanusi but in the event the president selected a
non-central banker Godwin Emefiele as the governor elect.
Observers said he would be far less
outspoken than the high-born Mr Sanusi, a well-connected Muslim and Islamic
scholar from the north of the country whose father was Emir of the ancient city
of Kano.
Mr Moghalu, who took his PHD at the
London School of Economics and is the son of a Nigerian diplomat to Washington
DC, is one of three deputy governors of the central bank and said he had no
plans to resign. He vehemently denied being under investigation himself, or
being accused of any wrongdoing by the report into Mr Sanusi, although newspapers
in Nigeria citing the document quote it as recommending the president
"cause the governor and the deputy governors to cease from holding office
in the CBN [Central Bank of Nigeria.]"
Mr Sanusi earlier this week requested
the President reverse his suspension, saying that every one of the allegations
levelled against him and the central bank under his leadership were false.
Mr kingsley Moghalu you are a Big Fool do you think we will belive you what ever you will say we know why Sunusi was suspended, what hapening in NNPC is a hige corruption. All Nigerians want is our missing money in NNPC
ReplyDeleteDo you work with cbn ? . Drop ur sentiments fool like u
DeleteGovt chicken boy
ReplyDeleteThis guy has been paid by Jonathan or promised appointment. You can't deceive us . All we want is our money.
ReplyDeleteAnd what if the money is retrieved from whoever that stole it, how much will get 2 your pocket? Or tel me how much of our money that was looted away by the late Abacha 2 forign country that was later retrieved by OBJ that got into your pocket?
DeletePls there is more dt meets d eye mr Sanusi was not a saint, Jona was too kind to leave him there for dt long. He is d Boko haram itself
ReplyDeleteIf it were in any other country Sanusi will not have the guts to make any statement. He should answer the weighty questions of governace such as embarking on intervention projects more than the capex of most state govts.and funding political parties. He should forget about issues of operational expenses. We know he invented the $20 billion NNPC missing money to cover himself. The forensic audit will eventually expose him. We are not all gullible as he thinks.
ReplyDelete