That is according to a report by Thisday. Find it
below...
President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to resign immediately
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.
But Sanusi who has denied leaking the letter
to anyone, has refused to resign and
informed the president during the heated
telephone exchange that he could only be
removed by two-thirds of the Senate as
required by law.
THISDAY learnt that the president had 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”.
The president, who a source in the presidency
said was very angry and was not prepared to
allow Sanusi to proceed on his terminal leave in
March, asked him to tender his resignation before
the close of business last Tuesday.
However, Sanusi denied that he had leaked his
letter to Obasanjo and made it abundantly 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.
His response, which threw the president aback,
degenerated 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 said.
But the president was said to have remained
adamant and insisted on the CBN governor’s
resignation.
Following the exchange, Sanusi, another source
said, briefed his close aides at the CBN and family
of what had transpired between himself and the
president.
The source said he did it to shield himself from
harm, as he felt his life might be in danger for
defying the direct order of the president.
When contacted Wednesday on the issue, the
president’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity,
Dr. Reuben Abati, did not pick up or return
THISDAY’s calls and text messages.
Also, efforts to get Sanusi and the CBN to speak on
the matter met a brick wall.
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, in which the former president
also accused Jonathan of being clannish,
destroying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
compiling a political watch-list of 1,000 people and
training snipers to target opponents of the
administration, among other allegations.
The president had since denied all of Obasanjo's
claims in his rebuttal of the former president's
letter.
Expectedly, Sanusi’s letter drew the ire of the
opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which
called on the National Assembly to commence
impeachment proceedings against the president.
In addition, the Senate directed its Committee on
Finance to probe the contents of Sanusi’s letter.
However, Sanusi’s letter was immediately denied
by NNPC, which accused the CBN governor of not
only playing politics but also of being ignorant of
the operations of the oil and gas sector.
Following NNPC’s repeated denials, a joint press
conference was convened by the Coordinating
Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and
Sanusi, during which it was revealed that a
reconciliation process was ongoing, and had so far
established that it was not $49.8 billion that had
not been repatriated to the Federation Account but
$10.8 billion.
During the press conference, however, Sanusi
attempted to distance himself from the statements
made by Okonjo-Iweala and Alison-Madueke,
stating that it was $12 billion that had not been
remitted by NNPC.
But the finance minister immediately interjected,
insisting that it was $10.8 billion that had not been
remitted to the Federation Account and was still in
dispute.
But it is not clear what would now happen to the
CBN governor who has already indicated that he
will leave office in March on a three-month
terminal leave ahead of the expiration of his tenure
in June.
He had earlier written to the president last year
that he would not be seeking a second term.
Clearly the Jonathan presidency must be feeling
uncomfortable with Sanusi's remaining five
months in office in this political season.
As at last night, efforts were being made to
reconcile the president and the CBN governor and
create an orderly transition at the apex bank so as
not to harm growing confidence in the Nigerian
economy.
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