Why President Jonathan Delayed Sanusi’s Sack

Revelations have emerged why Presidency did not remove former Governor of Central Bank (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, last year in spite of the reports indicting him for financial recklessness and abuse of due process by the Financial Reporting Council. Investigations by a source indicated that the crisis in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which resulted in defection of its members and five governors to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC), made the action inauspicious.

Indeed, the defections, it was learnt, made PDP to lose its controlling majority, consequently, requesting for the sack of Sanusi, which would need at least two-third of the members of the Senate, would have been impracticable.

Investigations also revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan, after receiving the report of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), which was submitted on Jun 7, 2013, might have been persuaded from pleas, especially from the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, not to wield the big stick on the embattled CBN governor

Information gathered revealed that the advice of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria after its investigation on the CBN’s activities, was clear: for President Jonathan to exercise the powers conferred on him by Section 11(2)(f) of the CBN Act 2007 or invoke Section 11(2)(c) of the said Act "and cause the governor and the deputy governors to cease from holding offices in the CBN".

The council, apart from calling for the prosecution of those found culpable, also recommended to the president to take quick and decisive action, so that the opposition to the "Federal Government does not take advantage of the information and use it to attack the government that Your Excellency was aware of the lax in CBN and allowed it to stay forpolitical reasons".

Jonathan, after receiving the report, according to sources, was prevailed upon by notable Nigerians from acting on it, especially as it would not be practicable to dissolve the CBN at a goal, since Sanusi and all the bank’s deputy governors, including Dr. Sarah Alade, were all indicted.

The fallout of this report, according to a source, was why Jonathan could not pick any of the deputy governors to succeed Sanusi and decided to settle for the Zenith Bank Managing Director, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as the new governor of CBN.

Sources said Zenith Bank CEO was picked as a result of his outstanding character and disposition to professional ethics, noting that Emefiele appeared highly principled and independent minded, and had not been involved in the banking politics.

It was revealed that the former Chief Exceptive Officer of Access Bank, Aig Imoukuede, who was touted as a possible successor to Sanusi, had never crossed Jonathan’s mind, as Imoukuede had been so much involved in this government and people could misread the appointment as the president trying to position one of his "boys" in a crucial economic institution to do his bidding.

It was also gathered that the Presidency developed cold feet on Imoukuede when it discovered that despite his closeness to the key figures of the incumbent Federal Government, he is equally chummy with the suspended CBN governor Sanusi.

It is believed that Sanusi helped to clear regulatory hurdles for him when his bank acquired Intercontinental Bank. That means that Sanusi’s influence could not be ruled out after he might have vacated the office.

There is also the fear of conflict of interests with Imoukuede’s huge financial interests in Access Bank and other companies in the financial group. Although Sanusi was appointed from his then new post as the Managing Director of First Bank Plc, he did not hold significant position in the share ownership structure of the bank. But Aig-Imoukhuede does in Access Bank. Though he could divest or put his holdings in a blind trust, it will not completely mitigate suspicion of helping the bank one way or the other.

And finally, the president may have seen that the Imoukuede may not provide the stability, discipline and maturity needed to redirect the bank after the controversial Sanusi’s tenure. In resorting to Emefiele, the president may have drawn lessons from Sanusi’s tragic flaws, which ultimately brought his tenure to an inglorious end. The suspended governor could be said to be too garrulous for the sensitivepost of the CBN governor.

Many Nigerians believed that most of the time, he carried on like a member of civil society organization or even opposition political parties.

For the first time, Nigerians beheld a CBN governor who would openly criticize various policies of the administration he was serving under. Imoukuede is equally limelight-seeking, even if not as talkative as Sanusi.