The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has said he holds no grudge against former President Goodluck Jonathan for removing him as Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor in 2013.
Sanusi’s statement came after Jonathan denied allegations that $49.8 billion went missing during his tenure as President.
At the launch of ‘Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging World’, co-authored by former Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, in Abuja on Thursday, Jonathan addressed the reinstated Emir of Kano regarding the allegation that about $49.8 billion went missing during his administration.
The former president, who said he was not convinced by the claim, noted that Sanusi was not sacked as CBN governor but merely suspended to allow for an investigation into some alleged infractions in the apex bank at that time.
“I know everyone is expecting me to respond, and I will not respond. When I was told to make a speech, I told Sir D. Kusman that I would not speak about my intervention out of respect for my boss, the President… But I think for me, I’ll make a few remarks. First of all, I continue to respect my president, Jonathan, and I do not have any grudges against anyone,” he stated.
“I left the Central Bank, I became the Emir, I was dethroned, I got a PhD, I came back, I’m still the Emir. I remain grateful to Allah for what He has done in my life. We go through difficulties, we have misunderstandings, we have challenges in life, and we go through them. And that is Nigeria, that’s what we’re here for.”
The Emir of Kano also said vested interests, who have profited from Nigeria’s continued importation of petrol, were frustrating Dangote refinery.
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His words: “There may be issues around the refinery. I don’t know what the details are, but this is a country that has been importing petroleum products for so many years, faced with an opportunity for weaning itself from importing petroleum products. Instead of grabbing this opportunity with open arms, we are frustrating it.
“Why would anyone stop us from having the capacity to produce our own refined petroleum products? This is because there are vested interests who have profited from Nigeria continuing to import these products.
“There could be people locally who have been profiting from these subsidy scams. And this is the end, because every excuse disappears when you’re no longer importing, and you’re producing locally. And these are the kinds of instances and examples that we see, left, right, and center, which continue to get in the way of Nigeria transiting from being a rentier state to a developmental state.
“And for me, this is the most important thing. The faces may change, the parties may change, the characters may change, but we have to continue to address this issue. How do we turn the Nigerian state into one that understands it is an agent of the people and not an agent of those who control the levers of political power? I think this is a big lesson in this book.”
On his part, the co-author of the book, Usman, while speaking on contentious issues of budget padding and constituency projects, observed that lawmakers were not alone in the corrupt practice, saying it is done in collaboration with those in the executive.
Usman, an ex-minister of finance, said: “If we don’t get the politics right, we won’t get anything right. I battled with the national assembly regarding budget padding and constituency budgets. I remember during the 2008 budget after we got it back, we sat down and took out all the padding and constituency budgets and sent it back. That was the beginning of my trouble. Like someone said, it takes two to tango. For every constituency project, someone on the executive side is involved. Either a permanent secretary or a director is conniving. Many times, we blame lawmakers, but there is collaboration with some people in the executive.”
The book was reviewed by former Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Joe Abah.
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