Why is it that after the whistle blower had revealed
to the whole world a catalogue of missing funds that should have accrued to the
government, the Goodluck Jonathan administration instead decided to suspend him
from office on the grounds of (financial) impropriety? While it is true that Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has his excesses,
it is still morally wrong of the government at this point in time to carry out
such an order. In the first place, it has been made clear to us that going by
the books, the president has no right to suspend a Central Bank Governor
unilaterally. He needs the backing of two-third majority of the Senate.
Secondly, you need him at this point: A man who had just told the whole world
that $20 billion is missing from the national coffers is not the one to be
sidelined, except of course you are hiding something.
Should the government not be interested in hearing
him out; should the government not be interested in finding out what happened
tour money; should the government of Goodluck Jonathan not be interested in how
to recover our money and apprehend, and also punish the culprits involved?
Obviously this administration is not interested in all of these.
The petroleum minister in trying to sell us a dummy instead
came out in the throes of the ugly episode to say that the money was not
missing, but rather the said amount was used to pay off kerosene subsidy! My
goodness! But we learn that the said subsidy (has) or will bring down kerosene
pump price to N50 per litre. But what do
we get? Kerosine, the common
man’s domestic fuel is gotten in the open market for between N130 – N170 per litre. Even after all the
myriads of controversies surrounding the misappropriation of funds in NNPC, the
huge oil subsidy frauds, etc, Mrs. Diezani Madueke has not been suspended, let
alone sacked. And with Miss Stella Oduah at the helms of affairs at the
aviation ministry, two bullet proof cars were purchased for N255 million, she
was never suspended – come on!
 |
| Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi |
In civilised climes such persons as Mr.
Sanusi will be encouraged to come forward to aid government in their
investigations, but no, not here. This man has given very useful
information to government, we ought to use him to clean up the mess he
discovered and then investigate his own matter too and prosecute him if need
be. But it is clear that these Nigerian leaders are not interested in the least
in tackling the corruption monster bedeviling our society. They would rather
grow it to an unprecedented height. This nation is headed for the abyss if we
continue like this. We are not even talking about insecurity and others yet. But
may God help us all.
That day of reckoning still has to come before we get
straightened out. That revolution has become inevitable. All we need is good
governance; we should all be united in calling for that and not these ethnic,
religious, or political sentiments that some peddle around. Our kind of so
called democracy has failed woefully. But what does it matter, all that Nigeria
needs is an exemplary, bold leader, and I do not care if he or she comes from
Sao Tome & Principe. Truly speaking and in the words of a public
commentator, I honestly feel “Nigeria needs a benevolent dictator”. Such a
person cannot come from this present system.
By:
Morgan Nwanguma
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