The Serving Overseer of The Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that the suspension of Sanusi would have negative implications for the nation.
Bakare described Jonathan’s action against the CBN governor as ego-driven and a destructive power game.
He said in a prepared speech, which he delivered during the Sunday service, that Sanusi was being persecuted for exposing corruption in the oil industry.
The cleric warned that Sanusi’s suspension could have negative consequences for the investing public and the nation’s revenue.
He said, “The suspension of Sanusi is an ego-driven, counter-productive and destructive power game that will have very dangerous consequences for the nation and the government,
“It is important not to demystify the institutions of the country. Personalities and people will go but the institutions will remain; the institutions must remain strong to enhance the growth and peace of the society.
“You can imagine the negative consequences of this suspension on the investing public, on shares and even on government revenue.”
Bakare whose speech was titled ‘Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Federal Government of Nigeria: Aitete m’ole, ole m’oloko,’ said the CBN boss became a victim because he delayed blowing the whistle about the corruption in the oil industry.
He explained that Aitete m’ole, ole m’oloko, means “that when the owner of the farm fails to apprehend the thief in time, the thief will apprehend the owner and label him the thief.”
The clergyman recalled that Sanusi’s travails started on September 25, 2013, when he wrote Jonathan accusing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of failing to repatriate $49.8bn (about N8tn) into the Federation Account between January 2012 and July 2013.
Bakare added, “The opportune time to blow the whistle should have been “when the CBN, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the PPPRA, the NNPC and other agencies provided conflicting figures as to actual subsidy payments to the Ad hoc Committee on the management of fuel subsidy”.
According to him, the NNPC had been spared of any indictment in all the three reports “from the 2011 KPMG report to the 2012 Farouk Lawan Committee Report and from the 2012 Nuhu Ribadu Committee Report to the 2013 Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report.
“When the Save Nigeria Group raised the bar during the fuel subsidy protests and maintained that government-backed corruption fuelled by the NNPC was the main issue, perhaps a corroborating voice by the CBN governor would have added weight to the outcry.”
The cleric commended Sanusi for speaking up against corruption and urged him to take solace in the words of William Bryant, who once said that “Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again.”
“Make no mistake about it, few men have the courage of Sanusi,” he said.
