Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero yesterday described the federal government’s suspension of former CBN governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as illegal and a witch-hunt.
The Presidency on Thursday suspended Sanusi from office for alleged misconduct.
Asking the federal government to reverse the action in the interest of equity and fairness, Alhaji Bayero wondered why a public servant who had done the country proud should be humiliated by the government for standing for the truth.
In a statement issued by the Kano Emirate Council on his behalf, the traditional ruler said: “We and many Nigerians see the president’s action as a deliberate witch-hunt of the governor for doing his job by letting Nigerians know the alleged fraud going on in the petroleum industry and to divert people’s attention from this monumental fraud.”
The statement which was signed by the Walin Kano, Alhaji Mahe Bashir Wali, noted: “As the president suspended the governor without recourse to the rule of law, we believe that it was a deliberate attempt to witch-hunt him; desperation and impunity at the highest order by the federal government.”
The Emirate Council called on the federal government to review Sanusi’s suspension in the “interest of equity, justice and fairness”.
Alhaji Bayero noted that despite all the awards and commendations Sanusi received nationally and internationally, which Nigerians and even President Jonathan are proud of, the government went ahead to remove him from office.
“It is our view that the federal government should as a matter of urgency review this issue by following the laid-down procedure in the suspension of a public officer, for equity, justice and fairness.
“As a law-abiding organisation, we believe that adherence to the rule of law is paramount and important to any government, more importantly a democratically-elected government which preaches and ensures adherence to the rule of law,” he said.
Emir Bayero feared that “democracy will never mature in Nigeria if we stay with proclivity to personalise governance. We need to build institutions, we need to build our democracy and commitment to public accountability is part of building institutions”.
He thanked members of the National Assembly and other Nigerians for rejecting the action.
“At this point, we will like to thank members of the National Assembly and the general public for condemning and objecting to the suspension,” he said.
Court restrains FG from arresting Sanusi
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos has ordered the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, inspector-general of police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar, the State Security Service (SSS) and the federal government not to arrest and detain or subject Sanusi to any form of ill-treatment.
Sanusi will on Monday in Abuja file a suit against his suspension by the government.
The order was given yesterday by Justice Buba Ibrahim following a suit on the protection of his fundamental human rights which Sanusi filed. The ex-CBN chief had protested his unlawful arrest, detention, and seizure of his passport on Thursday by security agents.
He was represented in court by former attorney-general of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), and Kola Awodein (SAN).
The court fixed Friday, February 28, 2014, for the hearing of the suit.
Three EDs in line to succeed Emefiele
Following the vacuum created by the federal government’s nomination of Godwin Emefiele, the chief executive officer of Zenith Bank Plc, as the next CBN governor, LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt that one of the three executive directors of the bank may be named as his successor by the Board of Directors in line with the organisation’s succession plan.
The bank’s board faces a challenge of getting Emefiele’s successor as he is widely adjudged to be calm, reserved and a core professional, which won him the board’s confidence when he was appointed as the CEO and MD.
Those being tipped as his possible successor are Peter Amangbo, Ebenezer Onyeagwu and Adaorah Remy Umeoji.
Amangbo, an executive director, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from the University of Benin (1988), a post-graduate diploma in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (1995). He trained with PricewaterhouseCoopers and qualified as a chartered accountant before joining Zenith Bank in 1993.
Onyeagwu, also an executive director, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) and an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, USA (Wharton Executive Education); Columbia Business School, Columbia University, United States of America; and the Harvard Business School.
Also, Ms Umeoji, who has served as the group regional director of the bank, holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Jos and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Calabar. She is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management and also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria (ICPAN).
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) last night said it will meet on Sanusi’s suspension on Monday in Abuja at the Rivers State Government Lodge by 8pm.
FG compiles Sanusi’s offences
Amid the condemnation trailing Sanusi’s suspension and the threat by the suspended CBN governor to seek legal redress, the federal government has set up a team to look into his tenure at the apex bank and come up with “more offences” he allegedly committed.
Apart from resolving to use the committee’s findings to justify its action, the government, LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt, plans to combine the panel’s report with those of the anti-graft agencies to fight him on the legal turf.
The team, which allegedly swung into action immediately Sanusi’s removal was announced, went into the archives to examine his comments on national issues, CBN’s donations to public and private organisations and his relationship with opposition politicians.
According to government sources, the facts gathered by the team and those of the anti-graft agencies would be used to fight Sanusi both in the public court and the legal turf if he challenged his suspension in the law court.
The sources claimed that Sanusi had committed blunders that present him as an anti-Jonathan public servant. They claimed that the former apex bank chief had been under investigation by the government.
According to one of the sources, “Sanusi had been under investigation and once he knew that he was having a bad case as a result of the report of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria which indicted him severally, he began making unguarded utterances against the president, especially the alleged corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). His thinking was that doing that would help his case either to stop his imminent sack or to win him the public sympathy when the time is due for his removal.”
On when the move to remove Sanusi started, the source said: “Left to the Economic Team of the Jonathan administration, Sanusi would have been thrown out of office since. Here is a man who does not know the etiquette of the office he was holding. Imagine him telling the president that he could not remove him from office without the two-thirds support of the Senate?”
Another source in the Presidential Villa said Sanusi had been inciting disaffection against President Jonathan and his government with a view to stopping his second-term ambition as typified with his hair-raising allegation of unaccounted money against the NNPC.
He said: “Sanusi has been flirting with the opposition and his allegations are being used to criticise the president. His donations were without the consent of the Presidency and he criticised government policies publicly.”
LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt that the team set up by the government had already discovered that all of Sanusi’s donations were concentrated in a section of the country, especially in the opposition-controlled states, while most of the N190 billion worth of projects were concentrated in the north. This, sources said, failed the federal character test.
It was also gathered that, based on the panel’s findings, Sanusi might be accused of empowering perceived enemies of the government through contract awards. A former minister has been fingered as one of the major beneficiaries of the contracts worth several billions of naira.
In the “sack letter” signed by the secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, he said the Presidency had lost confidence in Sanusi due to his financial recklessness, waste and impunity and that he violated the Public Procurement Act
Anyim also alleged that Sanusi made unlawful expenditure of about N163 billion on “intervention projects” nationwide.
No plan to devalue naira – acting CBN gov
The CBN acting governor, Dr Sarah Alade, has assured stakeholders in the economy that the new management would ensure price and financial system stability. She also allayed fears about the likelihood of the naira losing its value or the economy being thrown into a depression.
In her maiden media briefing in Abuja, Alade said appropriate monetary and fiscal policy tools would be used to ensure the naira exchange stability and toward sustainable growth in the economy.
Alade, who restated the strong, sound and resilient state of the economy as indicated by the 6.87 per cent growth rate among other positive performance indices, said Sanusi’s suspension would not adversely affect the monetary policy thrusts of the apex bank as a strategic option of consolidating on its reform initiatives as had been witnessed over the last 50 years.
According to her, the bank remains committed to monetary and price stability and smooth functioning of the foreign exchange market, pointing out that, with the current level of reserves at seven months of imports cover as at last December, the bank’s ability to intervene in the foreign exchange market and meet demands of all foreign exchange users is not in doubt.
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