SNG, CAN group want Sanusi sacked over N100m gift

The Save Nigeria Group has asked the

Federal Government to sack the

Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido

Sanusi, over the N100m gift he gave to

the victims of Boko Haram attacks in

Kano State.

Also, the youth wing of the Christian

Association of Nigeria has disagreed

with the explanation given by the CBN

on the donation by the apex bank

governor, saying he should be sacked.

The SNG said the CBN governor

desecrated his office and violated the

laws of the land by manifesting ethnic

and religious bias in the discharge of

his duties.

It threatened to mobilise Nigerians to

the streets if the government failed to

sack Sanusi.

Addressing a news conference in

Abuja on Thursday, the SNG National

Coordinator, Benedict Ezeagu, stated

that Sanusi’s actions and utterances

portrayed him as “an undisciplined

politician instead of a public servant

engaging in dangerous brinkmanship

and taking advantage of Nigeria’s fault

lines and the impunity permeating the

public service.”

He said that Sanusi’s donation of

money that was not appropriated by

the National Assembly was “illegal,

provocative, divisive and a display of

clannish and ethnic bias.”

Ezeagu, who is also the Coordinator,

Lawyers of Conscience, explained that

the 1999 Constitution did not

authorise the CBN governor to

personally give out public fund.

He described the donation as an

usurpation of the statutory function of

the National Emergency Management

Agency.

The SNG activist took Sanusi to task

over his statement that the Boko

Haram insurgency was caused by the

13 per cent derivation formula,

describing this as reckless and a

questionable justification of the sect’s

activities.

Ezeagu said, “The most provocative of

his (Sanusi) actions is his recent

questionable diversion of a whopping

N100m from the CBN as a donation to

the government of his state of origin,

Kano, for the victims of the Boko

Haram insurgence without the

necessary appropriation by the

National Assembly and without

authorisation from the board of CBN

or the President/Federal Executive

Council.

“Apart from the illegality of his action,

the donation stands out today as the

pinnacle of ethnic bias and sectarian

favouritism considering the fact that

before the Kano incident, there had

been civil unrest, bombings and

fatalities in Abuja, Plateau, Borno,

Yobe, Niger, Adamawa, Nasarawa and

Oyo states.”

The SNG accused the CBN governor of

illegally donating N500m without

appropriation to the University of

Benin.

A board member of the CBN, Prof.

Sam Olofin, had defended Sanusi’s

action, saying the gesture was within

the purview of the corporate social

responsibility and mandate of the

apex bank.

He had said that the donation was not

made because Sanusi was from Kano

State, but that the huge damage

caused by the bomb blasts prompted

the apex bank to make the donation.

Quoting from the CBN Act, he had

said, “The Act in functions of

management said that the governor,

or in his absence, the deputy

governor nominated by him shall be

in charge of the day-to-day

management of the bank and shall be

accountable to the board for his acts

and decisions.

“So, there is no single action that the

governor takes to which he is not

accountable to the board or does not

entail clearance from the board.”

The Public Relations Officer of

YOWICAN, Pastor John Pofi, in a

statement obtained by our

correspondent on Thursday in Abuja,

condemned the donation by the CBN

to the Kano victims of Boko Haram

and called for the immediate sacking

of Sanusi.

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