Suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido
Sanusi has again stirred the hornetโs nest as he declared yesterday
that kerosine subsidy is a big scam operated by a cabal in government.
Mallam Sanusi in an interview with New York Times yesterday also
alleged that the money claimed for the subsidy was being used to
finance election.
Said he: Itโs (kerosine subsidy) just a big scam, the amount is shared
by a cabal. By making NNPC an issue now, the source of money for
financing elections is threatened. If this is stopped there will be no
money to finance the electionsโ
Mallam Sanusi was suspended on Thursday 19th based on a report by the
Financial reporting Council (FRC), which accused him of various
financial recklessness and misconduct.
Sanusi however said that he was sacked because he threatened to
conduct special examination on the banks to ascertain their
involvement in the missing $20 billion fuel money.
He said that at the Bankers Committee held on February 11, he had
threatened to open their books, to trace the missing oil money.
According to him, โSome of them were not giving informationm about
their accounts. I told them I would order a special examination.โ
One of the bankers at the meeting told New York Times that, โ he made
it clear to the bankers that the CBN would need to unravel what was
going on, and they should cooperate.
Many of the bankers became angry and one of us said, โwhat next?-
Another banker at the meeting said, โThere was a general heaviness as
he spoke tough.โBoth bankers requested anonymity.
Mallam Sanusi explained that several of the banks panicked at his
threat to open their books and two of the bankers went straight to the
government and reported to the petroleum minister. He further said,at
that moment, he knew his days were numbered at the CBN.
