Between Alams and Sanusi

Alams was convicted of massive fraud and embezzlement while, Sanusi simply alleged money was being stolen.  Alams was forgiven pardoned and feted, while Sanusi latter was removed from office and every attempt made to rubbish his reputation. In showing loyalty to his benefactor by granting him a pardon President Jonathan betrayed a higher oath of […]

Alams was convicted of massive fraud and embezzlement while, Sanusi simply alleged money was being stolen.  Alams was forgiven pardoned and feted, while Sanusi latter was removed from office and every attempt made to rubbish his reputation. In showing loyalty to his benefactor by granting him a pardon President Jonathan betrayed a higher oath of loyalty to the nation. When the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) called it a “flagrant abdication of legal and moral responsibility” Special Adviser to the President on Media Dr Reuben Abati insisted that Nigerians who felt disgusted were guilty of “sophisticated ignorance”.
Undoubtedly this same ignorance makes the majority of Nigerians unable to accept his justification of Sanusi’s treatment. There is one major difference between the former Central Bank Governor and all others who have been disgraced out of office. He has neither been accused of stealing money, nor personally benefitting from inappropriate actions. Doubtless we can expect as an afterthought that all efforts will now be made to find incriminating evidence against him. Most Nigerians agree with former Minister Oby Ezekwezili who said the suspension was poorly thought out and in bad taste creating a dark cloud of distrust in government’s motives. When announcing Sanusi’s removal authorities made sure all the allegations he made concerning operations in the oil industry were also levelled against him.  An editorial in The Nation newspaper aptly pointed out that the statement was “brutally ironic in its savage damning of the accused”. Sanusi’s tenure was said to be “characterized by various acts of financial recklessness and misconduct” which ironically has been the hallmark of Jonathan’s administration. Identical allegations have been raised repeatedly against several serving officials yet met with snail-paced action.
Sanusi’s prompt suspension is simply part of a witch-hunt for alerting the nation to massive fraud in the oil sector and a reflection of desperation gripping the presidency in the wake of his allegations. By this singular action this administration is sending strong signals that they will not tolerate exposure of corruption under any circumstance. Sanusi’s travails should leave no one in any doubt that the PDP administration lacks any genuine desire to fight corruption. Former Minister of Petroleum Professor Tam David West castigated the suspension calling it “political suicide and great miscalculation”.  Like most Nigerians the professor believes Sanusi’s whistle-blowing deserves a National Honour for patriotically insisting every kobo should be accounted for. Having been decorated as one of the best Central Bank Governors in the world, attempts to humiliate Sanusi speak poorly of government. None of the allegations made against him are new. For years his critics have queried the rationale behind Central Bank making donations and philanthropic gestures which he explained away under the governments Corporate Social Responsibility policy. The real question is why the president only chose to act against him when he opened the can of worms on NNPC?  The fight against corruption is the moral and legal responsibility of all serious, open-minded and people oriented governments and no one should be victimized for contributing to it. As far as the presidency is concerned all the talk about loss of confidence in our economy and financial systems, short term decline in exchange rates, depressed stock market, and delayed investment facilitation occasioned by the suspension is far less important than keeping a lid on the scandal. It has long since become apparent to watchers of Nigerian society that there is little truth in politics and government. Corruption has become institutionalized and it instructive that although the Minister of Finance agreed that certain amounts have not been accounted for, neither the Accountant-General nor the Auditor-General of the Federation has ever complained of “missing funds”. The presidency knew that they could expect lawyers like Mike Ozekhome, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to muddle up issues. His bile-driven, essentially tribalistic, and fallacious attack on Sanusi which was full of irrelevancies, mindless repetitions and “argumentum ad hominem” shows the tragic level to which the nation is sinking. More sound and less biased legal minds such as Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos (also a SAN) correctly pointed out if someone within government says money is missing and without concluding any investigation the whistle blower is suspended then something must be wrong. Whether or not the former CBN governor will ever be given a fair hearing is another matter altogether. The presidency is correctly suspected of adopting the “Justice Salami” option which has now become the accepted way of sidelining men of integrity. The language used in suspending him was exceptional. Never before even in the presence of various indicting investigations and reports has this government referred to financial recklessness and misconduct among its members. No one is fooled by the unnecessarily vindictive and reprehensible attempt to rubbish his reputation. The foreign press reported that Sanusi’s allegations threatened to expose high level fraud in Nigeria’s notoriously opaque and corrupt oil industry and that challenging corruption in the oil sector is to attempt a strike at the heart of the vested interests that control Nigeria so the consequences are dire. At the end of the day Sanusi was a political appointee and perhaps should have acted accordingly. Knowing he had problems with the presidency over the operations of the Federation Account and his belief that leadership, politics and government is primarily about ethics and morality he should have resigned.  Comparing the treatment of Alams and Sanusi, and taking into consideration Ms Stella Oduah and others, one would be hard pressed not to conclude that despite his religious pretentions President Jonathan’s Christian ethics, morality and Christian virtues of tolerance and forgiveness are highly malleable, suspect and selective.