Jonathan queries Sanusi over donations to APC      states,   others

The presidency has issued a query to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, demanding an explanation for some of the donations made to some universities and organisations, THISDAY has reported.

A top presidency told the newspaper that the federal government took the step, following security reports that Sanusi’s activities were undermining the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sanusi is alleged to have politicized his office, while engaging in serial infractions of regulations governing the operations of the central bank.

The source stated that the presidency was worried by the way and manner Sanusi had been donating to states and institutions in the name of the central bank, without adherence to due process and regard for the multi-cultural diversities of the country.

The apex bank chief was accused of donating about N150 billion to some institutions and interest groups in states, with most controlled by opposition political parties.

This includes donations to include N4 billion to Bayero University, Kano; N10 billion to Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto; N500 million to the University of Benin, Benin; and N100 million to the Kano State Government.

In addition, the source said in the last one year, information made available to the presidency reveals that Sanusi holds nocturnal meetings with politicians, especially with the opposition parties, making reckless statements capable of causing anxiety within the nation’s financial institutions.

According to the official, “The CBN governor has become more of a politician than a banker. He delights in political circus shows in the company of opposition political figures; making statements unbecoming of his office.

“The president has actually been very tolerant of these infractions in line with his personal convictions of allowing institutions operate their own independent checks on officers, but it appears the CBN governor is becoming a law unto himself.”

The recent allegation, in a letter to the president, by the CBN governor that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had not remitted $49.8 billion of crude oil proceeds to the Federation Account, has equally been seen as a deliberate ploy by the CBN governor to portray the federal government in a bad light.

DailyPost recalls that Sanusi, after much uproar over his statement, ate his words by stating that the initial figure was an “error”.

For allegedly leaking his letter to the president on non-remittance of the oil money, the Kano-born financial expert was reportedly asked to resign from office.

Sanusi, however, declined the order, maintaining that only two-thirds of the Senate was constitutionally empowered to oust him.

The FG became furious, when it discovered that content of Sanusi’s classified letter, were reproduced in the December 2 memo to Mr. Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“This man is simply playing a dangerous political game. He openly romances the opposition and attacks the integrity of his employers. Do an analysis of the CBN governor’s speeches at a birthday colloquium of a notable opposition political leader in the South-west last year as well as what he said at the book launch of the spokesman of the main opposition party in Abuja, and that will show you the mindset of a man who is supposed to be the chief economic adviser of the federal government,” the source added.