I Did Not Sack Lamido Sanusi, I Suspended Him – GEJ

Ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan has come out to deny suspending former Central Bank Governor, Dr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for alleging that $49.8bn went missing from the government’s coffers.

He recently had his say in Abuja during the launch of the book, “Public Policy and Agents Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging World,” and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, no such money actually went missing, and the CBN leadership under Sanusi were responsible for cooking up the false allegation.

GEJ added that Sanusi was not sacked but suspended, and such money would not have gone missing in Nigeria without some immediate impact.

His words, “Let me mention that I did not agree with some issues raised by one of the contributors. But I don’t intend to take issues because he is our royal father. And he is here.

The one he raised that he was sacked because he blew a whistle that the Federal Government lost $49.8bn is not quite correct. He was not sacked. He was suspended because the Financial Reporting Council queried the expenditure of the CBN. And there were serious infractions that needed to be looked at. That was the reason.

But somehow, the time was short. So, before we finished, his tenure elapsed. Probably, he would have been called back.

On the issue of $49.8bn, till today, I am not convinced that the Federal Government lost $49.8bn. And that year, our budget was $31.6bn. So, for a country that had a budget of $31.6bn to lose about $50bn and salaries were paid, nobody felt anything. The researchers that wrote this book need to do further research.

And more so when our revered royal father came up with the figures, first $49.8bn, later $20bn and later $12bn, I don’t even know the correct one.”