Editorial: Jonathan’s Mea Culpa over Sanusi’s Suspension

The claim by President Goodluck Jonathan that he acted ex cathedra in suspending Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not only outrageous, it is outlandish and laughable. For the avoidance of doubt, Sanusi’s suspension over alleged “financial recklessness and misconduct” violates the law, most notably, Section 11 of the 2007 CBN Act; which is clear and unambiguous and the President has no discretion in the matter. A trend in which the President sees himself above the law portends to dictatorship. This is unacceptable in a democracy and a huge disservice to Nigeria. It must be condemned as it undermines citizens’ rights and the practice of democracy. Jonathan must be reminded in clear terms that power is transient and that he not only holds power in trust for the people, he must exercise it within the limits of the law. No nation can progress in the absence of rule of law; where all are equal before the law.

Speaking during a presidential chat Monday, Jonathan insisted that Sanusi’s suspension was not borne out of politics or personal issues. “The issue of the Central Bank is unfortunate but on whether the president has powers to suspend, I will tell you yes! The president has absolute powers”, he said, noting that the president appoints, but must clear with the Senate to remove anybody in that capacity… Sanusi is still the Governor of CBN and Nigerians must know that,” he said. This mea culpa is self-serving and mischievous. Jonathan is obviously lying and this is pathetic. It is shameful for the President to hide behind semantics to justify illegality. The rigmarole over the meaning of “suspension” and “dismissal” does not change the ultimate goal – removal of Sanusi as CBN governor; which is what the president wanted anyway. Does the President really think Nigerians are fools? Who is Jonathan fooling? The President should come up with more credible excuses and stop insulting the intelligence of Nigerians!

We make bold to repeat without equivocation that the President is wrong. Jonathan acted ultra vires by not availing himself of Section 11 of the 2007 CBN Act. Even assuming as Jonathan argues that Sanusi is suspended, not dismissed, he still violated the Public Service Commission Rules 04302-04306 and 04402 relating to suspension from office pending investigation of allegations of misconduct because only the Federal Civil Service Commission can invoke those disciplinary powers. According to Jonathan, the issue of suspension came up because the CBN Act is anomalous (whatever that means). He said the FRCN came up with some grey areas following the 2012 audit of the CBN but that the sanction against Sanusi was long due to the delay in replying correspondences between him, Sanusi and the FRCN. “If the grey areas are settled by the FRCN and they feel that the infractions are real, then I will go to the senate. I cannot say I am firing him,” Jonathan said. This explanation stands logic and reason on its head. Sanusi has categorically denied any wrongdoing, saying he never received any FRCN report accusing him of financial impropriety; insisting that the CBN accounts are public records. He filed a suit in federal court seeking relief against harassment and possible arrest, after his passport was impounded. 

All these bloviating raises certain posers: if as Jonathan claims, the FRCN, as far back as June 7, 2013, had recommended that Sanusi be removed, why did it take him over eight months to act on a report of such magnitude? Due process demands that every accused person be given the right to defend himself; why didn’t the FCRN give Sanusi a copy of the letter with the charges? It stretches disbelief for the President to attribute his eight-month inertia to “delays in replying correspondence between him, Sanusi and the FRCN.” Knowing how this government operates, it is hard not to conclude that the FRCN letter was fabricated out of expediency, as an alibi to justify the suspension. What kind of leader will go to bed every night for eight months, knowing the central bank; the life wire of the economy was a cesspool of corruption, galling incompetence, unbridled waste and fraud? That it took Jonathan so long to act on such a national emergency is a betrayal of public trust which is inexcusable; even more so, as Jonathan compounded his dereliction of duty by an illegality that reeks of the executive lawlessness that has become the official trademark of the Jonathan administration.

The suspension of Sanusi was an act of economic sabotage which sent the economy into a tail spin. Within hours of Sanusi’s suspension, the market made its judgment: the exchange rate fell by another four naira, to $1 = N169. On February 13, hours after Sanusi told a Senate hearing, that $20 billion was missing from the Federation account, the naira took a hit slumping to N165 to the US dollar; the sharpest decline in five years. The value of shares on the Nigerian stock exchange fell faster than in any other capital market. Investors are worried about the signals sent by Sanusi’s suspension and the lack of concern about the issues that he raised.

The President and his almighty Oil Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke have shown an almost surreal insouciance towards data showing billions of dollars missing from state accounts, even when the data is produced by government officials and on one occasion, by a committee working under instruction from the Oil and Finance Ministries. For example, in 2009, the government banned subsidies on kerosene yet Alison-Madueke maintained a system of kerosene subsidy costing over $1 billion a year. The reason she gave for violating the law was that it benefited ordinary Nigerians. Yet Nigerians received no benefit as they paid international market prices for their kerosene. Instead, the beneficiaries were a cabal of fuel marketers who shared profits of around $100 million a month from the racket. In effect, government has been subsidizing corruption not Nigerians.

Sanusi exposed several other rackets, all of which come under the responsibility of Alison-Madueke. These include: Strategic Alliance Agreements between the NNPC and Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy, which Sanusi said illicitly transferred NNPC revenue to private holdings; unaudited crude oil swaps for imports of refined products handled by four local trading groups - Igho Sanomi’s Talveras, Tonye Cole’s Sahara Oil, Ben Peters’ Aiteo and Walter Wagbatsoma’s Ontario Oil and Gas together with Claude Dauphin’s Netherlands-based Trafigura; oil bunkering running at over 250,000 bpd and unaudited third-party financing claims of about $2 billion a year. Such a robbery of the state’s treasury is an outrageous, indeed a crippling thing to do in a country as poor as Nigeria.

The reason Jonathan is at daggers-drawn with Sanusi is a matter of common knowledge. Sanusi has exposed a system of corruption with direct links to the President’s office. His suspension is executive lawlessness carried too far, which does little credit to the image of the President. Presidential powers in all civilized democracies are meant to be used for the good of the nation and its people. They are not deployed to gratify the ego and whims of the President or his cronies. It is becoming too frequent for this President to pick on anyone who takes him to task even when there is justification for doing so. The suspension was nothing but a brazen show of megalomania to teach the outspoken, combative and ubiquitous, Sanusi a lesson, disregarding the fact that his term as governor of the apex bank would soon end. This is unacceptable. Jonathan should purge himself of arbitrariness. His insistence that he was right in suspending Sanusi is vindictive and reduces his office to one that will go to any length to settle scores with perceived enemies. This certainly, is not part of the attributes of statesmen.