…But cannot ask Oduah?
In a move that may be bad for the image of a leader that has
been criticised for his stance on corruption, President Goodluck Jonathan has
asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to resignimmediately
on the grounds that the letter Sanusi wrote to him on the unremitted
$49.8 billion oil revenue to the Federation Account, was leaked to former
President Olusegun Obasanjo by the CBN governor.
Just months to the end of his tenure as governor, Sanusi has
however refused to resign, even as he denied leaking the letter to anyone.
He was said to have informed the president during the heated telephone exchange
that he could only be removed by two-thirds of the Senate as required by law.
The president was reported to have called Sanusi and
accused him of leaking the letter to Obasanjo, which enabled the latter
to use it as one of many allegations he levelled against Jonathan in his letter titled: “Before It is Too Late”.
According to a source in the presidency, the president was very angry and was not prepared to
allow Sanusi proceed on his terminal leave in March, asked him to tender his
resignation before the close of business last Tuesday.
Angered by the president’s position, Sanusi, who denied that he
had leaked his letter to Obasanjo made it clear he would not
be forced out, except he is removed by two-thirds of the Senate.
He also told the president that the letter was available in the presidential
villa, available in the finance ministry and available in the central bank and
wondered how he (Sanusi) could have leaked the letter, which was so widely
available, to a former two-term president of Nigeria who has his people all over
the place.
Sanusi also expressed his surprise to the president that he was the one being asked to resign instead of the president to ask those responsible for the
non-remittance of the funds to resign.
Sources say his response threw the president aback, degenerating into a heated
exchange during which Sanusi told the president that as the federal government’s Chief
Economic Adviser, mandatorily required to bring issues of critical economic
importance to the attention of the president, he had done a patriotic duty to
his country.
“He informed the president that it is necessary to deal with the
issues and not the letter that had been leaked since it has
since been established that it was not $49.8 billion that had not been remitted
to the Federation Account, but $10.8 billion, which was still in dispute and by
any stretch of imagination was still a large sum.
“Sanusi felt he was being forced out for doing his patriotic
duty to his country by drawing attention to the unaccounted funds. He only has
two months to go, so this was a ploy to force him out and destroy his career
and reputation.
“He knew this and for this reason, refused to throw in the towel
as requested by the president,” a source familiar with the conversation told
Thisday.
The president was said to have however remained
adamant and insisted on the CBN governor’s resignation.
Sanusi had written to the president in September informing him that, among
other issues, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had not
remitted $49.8 billion of oil revenue to the Federation Account over a 19-month
period.
Although the letter was not made public until December 4,
2013 when it was leaked, Obasanjo referred to it in his letter dated December 2, 2013, to the
president.
Courtesy:-Nigeriana.org
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