"Sanusi Not A Hero" - Official Says

Spokesperson for the Afenifere Renewal Group, Yinka Odumakin, said on Tuesday that he did not consider the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, a hero.

Odumakin told journalists in Lagos that President Goodluck Jonathan was right in suspending Sanusi.
Sanusi was suspended by Jonathan on February 20 for alleged financial recklessness and misconduct but many had said the action was political and meant to divert attention from Sanusi’s $20bn missing oil fund expose.

Odumakin said that Sanusi could not be in office while under investigation for the allegations that were levelled against him.

He said,
“Given the infractions that Mallam Sanusi was accused to have committed as CBN governor, if they are true and given the explanation that the President gave yesterday (Monday) that the CBN board is the body charged to investigate these allegations, Sanusi cannot preside over his cause.


“So it is right to ask him to step aside as in the suspension, not removed until those charges are cleared. Like the President said, if he is found not guilty, he will go back to his position.”

Odumakin questioned the role the suspended CBN governor played during the subsidy saga and wondered why Sanusi did not speak out concerning the missing funds as early as 2011.

He noted that if Sanusi had not been queried by the Federal Government, he would not have made public the fact that monies were missing in the Federation Account.

“Sanusi was given query in April 2013, Sanusi blew the whistle in September 2013. Which one comes first? Attack as the best form of defence is what Sanusi is doing. So Sanusi is not my hero. Why did he not blow the whistle earlier?” he asked.

He added, “Are you saying there was no unremitted fund in 2011, in 2012? When they were going to remove subsidy, they were all together with Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and the rest of them. So if they had not given him query, perhaps we will not hear anything.

“To now come out to be saying it is now $40bn, it is now $10bn, $20bn; I see a man that is just trying to hold on to any straw. So, he is not my hero and I don’t want to see him as a hero.”