THE Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and former President Goodluck Jonathan met at a public event on Thursday, September 26, 10 years after the former president sacked the emir as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Both leaders met in Abuja at the launch of a book titled “Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World”, written by a former finance minister, Shamsuddeen Usman.
At the event, Sanusi hailed Jonathan as “my boss.”
In 2014, Jonathan suspended Sanusi after he revealed a $49.8 billion discrepancy in oil revenues under Jonathan’s administration.
He later revised the figure to $12 billion.
Jonathan’s administration was reportedly embarrassed by Sanusi’s claims, and many Nigerians believed that his exit was as a result of his outspokenness.
At the book launch, Jonathan, who chaired the event, denied that such a massive fund went missing under his watch.
His reaction came from a part of the book where Sanusi restated his claim on the missing fund.
“I need to say why I did not quite agree with him (Sanusi). All that he wrote was on some of the issues, especially the one that is related to me. The one he raised was that he was sacked because he blew the whistle that the federal government lost $49.8 billion. It’s not quite correct. It was not that he was sacked. He was suspended.
“So, before we finished, his tenure was already over. Well, probably, we would have called him back,” the former president stated.
Mounting the podium after the former president, Sanusi addressed Jonathan as his boss and said he would not respond to Jonathan’s rebuttal on his claim.
He said he took the decision out of respect for the former leader.
He also said he didn’t want the book launch to turn to a political debate.
“When I was told to make a speech, I told Shamsuddeen Usman that I would not speak about my intervention, out of respect for my boss, the President.”
“I feel most inappropriate for this to turn into a debate. It’s not about me or the President, it’s really about Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman today and his book. I always knew my chapter would be controversial when Dr. Usman asked me to write,” Sanusi stated..
He noted that the key issue wasn’t about personalities but the fact that Nigeria had been controlled by an elite class that exploited the state for personal gain, rather than serving the citizens.
This, he emphasised, was a widely acknowledged fact that had stagnated Nigeria. Sanusi pointed out that people in power prioritised personal enrichment over serving the nation.
He questioned why Nigeria was struggling, citing the Dangote Refinery as an example. He wondered why Nigeria wasn’t embracing the opportunity to produce refined petroleum products domestically, instead of importing them.
According to him, vested interests that profited from Nigeria’s reliance on imports were hindering progress.
He commended the author for his valuable contributions to national growth.
Sanusi disclosed that the author was his former lecturer and colleague at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The event also marked the official launch of the Shamsuddeen Usman Foundation (SUF), founded by his children to promote education in Nigeria.
Usman served as Minister of Finance from June 2007 to January 2009 and then as Minister of National Planning from January 2009 to September 2013.
Before his ministerial roles, Usman held key positions at the CBN, including Deputy Governor in charge of Financial Sector Surveillance from 1999 to 2004 and Deputy Governor in charge of Operations from 2004 to June 2007 ¹.
Besides, Usman was the pioneer Director-General of the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC), now known as the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), from 1989 to 1991
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance