NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 22 February 2014
THE SANUSI STORY Dominik Umosen
W
hen the sledge-hammer eventually descended on Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, terminating his unprecedented swagger as the most vocal and independent-minded governor of the CBN ever, the action did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians. Regardless of the fact that Sanusi defied every prediction and survived the rich foreplay of controversies spurned during his tenure, many Nigerians predicted that his latest brush with the Presidency could prove fatal. And the veracity of that prediction was proven when the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr Reuben Abati announced tersely on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 that the most controversial Governor of the CBN had been suspended from office over a panorama of infractions the Kano-born prince allegedly committed while in office. According to Abati, the president suspended the CBN governor from office on account of financial infractions and acts of financial recklessness committed by the CBN as reflected in its audited financial statement of 2012. According to Abati, “pursuant to Section 50 of the CBN Act 2007, a copy of the audited financial statement of the CBN for the year ended 31st December, 2012 was sent to Mr President based on the issues raised in the financial statement , a re-insertion was requested from you to enable a proper appreciation of the nation’s economic outlook. The response to this querry was further referred to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and the review of the comment, rather than allay the fears of government, further confirmed concerns about the untidy manner in which you have generally conducted operations of the CBN. “In a most ironical manner, it has become obvious that the CBN is unable to prepare its financial statements using applicable International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), whereas Deposit Money Banks that the CBN supervises have complied with this national requirement since 2012. This laxity, apart from calling to question its capacity for proper corporate governance, is capable of sending wrong signals to both the domestic and international investors on the state of the Nigerian economy.” Continuing, the presidential spokesman added: “For example, the BOARD of Trustees, BOT, to manage Deposit Money Banks on Banking Resolution Sinking Fund was not constituted since 2010 when the fund was established. But the CBN has continued to utilize the fund for certain operations without approval of the said BOT.’ The expenditure of several hundreds of billions of naira on certain works and services by the CBN further aggravated the numerous sins allegedly committed by Sanusi and for which he allegedly deserved punishment. In this regard, Nigerians could particularly recall the uproar ignited by the donation of N100 million to victims of Boko Haram in Kano in 2012. According to the National Publicity Secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Mr Raphael Ndigwe, ‘Sanusi should tell us what the CBN has done for hundreds of Igbos who were victims of Boko Haram in the North, otherwise the group would not hesitate to push for his removal from office’. Ohaneze was not alone in this harvest of sour grapes against Sanusi. Members of the National Assembly also felt sufficiently enraged to demand his blood when the suspended CBN
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Running the Gauntlet
Sanusi
“You do not read the provisions of the CBN Act in isolation, you read them together” governor accused them of allegedly constituting a drain on the treasury. Speaking in a lecture at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Sanusi alleged that their salaries constituted over 25 per cent of the national budget. Coupled with the injection of several hundreds of millions to rescue failed banks, this prompted the National Assembly to attempt to amend the CBN Act of 2007 to bring the institution under parliamentary control. Another albatross that hung stubbornly on Sanusi’s neck and planted him firmly in the eye of the storm was the licencing of Islamic Banks in 2011. Although the Islamic community was ecstatic, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Oritsejafor accused him of promoting Islamic banking with public funds. The transparent virtues of interest-free banking which is what defines Islamic banking was conveniently forgotten at this point. A formidable lobby that was sufficiently incensed, enough to rally against the loquacious CBN former gover were some privileged Nigerians who lost favoured and privileged status either as helmsmen, directors or chairmen of liquidated banks who failed to be rescued by the apex bank. They retreated into a powerful rump in the financial services industry, mobilizing antagonism or prejudices whenever and wherever they may be required. All these are tendencies that Sanusi juggled with during his
tempestuous tenure at the apex bank. Apparently to pre-empt those who argue that its much-touted autonomy insulated the CBN from external influence or some form of moderation by external influence, Abati elaborated on this. “There is a qualification that provided the removal is supported by two-thirds majority in the Senate. What the President has done is not removal, it is suspension. You do not read the provisions of the CBN Act in isolation, you read them together and the thrash about that is that he who hires can also have the power to suspend.” Apparently, it is on the basis of this obvious misconception about the latitude of autonomy the apex bank enjoys under the act, as well as promptings by some powerful individuals, including former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that Sanusi is threatening to sue the federal government, alleging wrongful suspension. But according to observers, unless the suspended CBN governor lived in a world of make-belief, he ought to have realized, even before now, that no matter its presumed independence, a thumb can never grow fatter than the whole hand from which it protrudes. In a televised interview, the suspended CBN governor waxed almost theatrical, demanding to know under what authority he was suspended given the fact that the apex bank is supposed to operate in exclusion of supervision and interference. Analysts however say that his dilemma and swagger is understandable, especially given the fact that Sanusi is on record as having declared publicly that he prefers the emirship of Kano, in which he has a legitimate stake, to the CBN position which circumscribed his latitude to play court as he would have preferred, regardless of public protestations like that by Ohaneze. Because he dared every criticism and got away with it throughout most of his tenure as CBN governor, is it legitimate to imagine, as some analysts have suggested, that the alleged invincibility of his proverbially disdainful swagger rec-
ognized no bounds, including the Presidency? According to Abati, he was suspended by the President on account of a panorama of financial recklessness and infractions. However, this is one reason that just does seem to impress some Nigerians, especially given the fact that shortly before his ouster, he had written a letter to the President, alleging inexplicable non-remittance of over S20b in crude oil sales by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. To most observers, the fact that this allegation was yet to be resolved before Sanusi was suspended amounted to a tacit admission that there is value in the allegations. According to Dr Tony Alamu, there is every reason for Nigerians to be grateful to Sanusi because without him, there is the possibility that the NNPC might not have acknowledged that any funds were missing. And going by the latest announcement by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, no funds were actually lost by the country in the controversial transactions. According to Adoke, there is legal basis in respect of the status of the S6billion NPDC gross revenue which Sanusi, in his alleged ignorance of the oil business, interpreted to mean unremitted revenue into the Federation Account; the raison d’etre for the uproar over alleged missing funds by the NNPC. ‘The NNPC can legitimately transfer its participatory interest in Oil-Mining Leases(OML) to its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd. The AGF told parliament that “by virtue of paragraph 14 to 16 of the First Schedule of the Petroleum Act CAP 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 4FN, 2004 (NNPC Act), and Regulation 4 of the Petroleum (Drilling and Prospecting Licence (OPL), can assign its interests provided the consent of the minister of petroleum is obtained”. According to analysts, there is the valid possibility that Sanusi did not understand these much before leaking the contents of his letter to the President to fifth columnists, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo who enthusiastically bellowed the allegation that several billions in oil money could not be accounted for by the NNPC. In threatening to invoke his fundamental human rights by suing the federal government for his suspension, Sanusi has cleverly skirted the grave allegations adduced for his ouster. Other than emotional appeals and subterfuge, he refused to address allegations of reckless expenditure and spending hugely without lawful authorization. The suspended CBN governor also failed to defend himself against the allegation that CBN claimed to have paid N38.233b to the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Co. Ltd, NSPMC, in 2011 for printing of banknotes . Paradoxically, however, in the same 2011, the NSPMC reported a total turnover of N29.370b for all its transactions with all clients, including the CBN. Dr Boniface Chizea, an economic analyst, argued that Sanusi deluded himself by imagining that he could co-exist as a sovereign with the president. He said that further talk of CBN autonomy was nonsense, given that the CBN Act made it clear that the institution existed as an appendage of the supervisory federal ministry of finance. “There is no provision in this arrangement for two sovereigns,” Chizea noted, almost sarcastically.