Popular Cleric and former Vice Presidential Aspirant under the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), in the 2011 general elections, Pastor Tunde Bakare, stated on Sunday that the suspension of Mr. Lamido Sanusi as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria would have negative consequences on the nation and its government.
Bakare described the recent suspension of Sanusi as ego- driven and destructive power game.
He said in a prepared text, which he delivered during the Sunday service, that the suspended CBN governor was being persecuted for exposing corruption in the oil industry.
He warned that the action of President Goodluck Jonathan in suspending Sanusi on February 22 could have negative consequences on the investing public and even government revenue.
Bakare said, “The suspension of Sanusi is an ego-driven,? counter-productive and destructive power game that will have very dangerous consequences for the nation and the government.
“It is important not to demystify the institutions of the country. Personalities and people will go but the institutions must remain; the institutions must remain strong to enhance the growth and peace of the society.
“You can imagine the negative consequences of this suspension on the investing public, on shares and even on government revenue.”
The cleric, whose text was with the theme, ‘Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Federal Government of Nigeria: Aitete m’ole, ole m’oloko’, said Sanusi became a victim because he delayed blowing the whistle about the corruption in the oil industry.
Pastor Bakare described the Yoruba saying, Aitete m’ole, ole m’oloko, as meaning that “when the owner of the farm fails to apprehend the thief in time, the thief will apprehend the owner and label him the thief.”
He narrated that the travails of ?Sanusi started on September 25, 2013, when the suspended apex bank governor wrote President Goodluck Jonathan accusing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of failure to repatriate $49.8bn (about N8trn) into the Federation Account between January 2012 and July 2013.
“In order words, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, undeniably a crusader of truth? and justice, may have blown the whistle indicting the very heads of the crime economy just too late,” Bakare said.
He said, “the opportune time to blow the whistle should have been when the CBN, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the PPPRA, the NNPC and other agencies provided conflicting figures as to actual subsidy payments to the Adhoc Committee on the management of fuel subsidy”.
Bakare further revealed, the NNPC had been spared of any indictment in all the three reports “from the 2011 KPMG report to the 2012 Farouk Lawan Committee Report and from the 2012 Nuhu Ribadu Committee Report to the 2013 Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report”.
“When Save Nigeria Group raised the bar during the fuel subsidy
protests and maintained that government-backed corruption fueled by
NNPC
was the main issue, perhaps a corroborating voice by the CBN governor would have added weight to the outcry,” Bakare said.
The cleric however commended Sanusi for joining his voice to speak up against corruption and urged him to take solace in the words of William Curren Bryant, who he quoted as saying, “Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again”.
He said, “Make no mistake about it, few men have the courage of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
“Few men have the aristocratic dignity of a man who time and again, while in public office, raised his voice against profligacy and monetary
imprudence especially among the legislators and sometimes among the executive; perhaps, no serving government official has been as outspoken against misgovernace as the suspended CBN Governor.”
