Nigeria political space is so
unique that there is hardly a dull moment such that no day passes without Nigerians
begin kept busy guessing and pounding over latest happenings in the polity. Events
happen every day as if they were programmed from the beginning. Ranging from
flying letters, corruption allegations, party defection, to resignation of
ministers.
It may be right to say the
country is heading somewhere; yet the one million dollar questions remain: where
are we going to? What is the undertone driver of decisions made by political
actors in Nigeria? Is it for 2015, development of the country, selfish interest
or as Reuben Abati is always quoted ‘decision has been taken in
absolute good faith and in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy’?
Just yesterday as Nigerians were
guessing and yet to fully digest the way forward on issues concerning fund mismanagement,
corruption allegations and suspicions bothering on NNPC remittance into
federation account, Special Adviser to the President Reuben Abati announced
that ‘Being determined to urgently re-position the Central Bank of Nigeria for
greater efficiency, respect for due process and accountability, President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has ordered the immediate suspension of Mallam Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi from the Office of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria’.
Though the Federal Government
gave reasons for suspending the CBN Governor, yet we know that the action was
not unconnected to the manner and position of Sanusi on the missing NNPC 20 billion
dollars. Whether Sanusi is guilty of the allegations on him or not is not in my
domain to determine, but of interest to me is the agility of the president to swipe
into action and suspend a complainant of massive systematic corruption based on
reports of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria while
National Assembly indictment of corrupt political office holders was not enough
to propel the president into action. This confirms the suspicion of Nigerians that
the government does not have the political will to fight corruption in Nigeria.
If not, how else can one explain the motive of government wielding the hammer
on Sanusi for his suspicion of huge fraud at NNPC instead of swiping into
action to determine and bring perpetrators to book?
It was expected that FG will put
more effort on investigating the allegation of missing NNPC 20 billion dollars as
a way of reigniting its corruption fight and winning support and confidence of Nigerians
instead of attaching political motive to it. If the suspension is going to
bring back the missing $20 billion, then it is fine. However, we will keep
advocating on the missing money until the truth is established and every issue
connected to it are brought to logical conclusion.
