by Benson Agoha
The tension between the President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi shows no sign of swift resolution.
The CBN Governor, appointed to the post of Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria since 3rd June 2009 was asked to resign yesterday, Nigerian Daily, "This Day" Newspapers reported.
According to the Newspaper Sanusi was asked to resign "immediately on the grounds that the letter Sanusi wrote to him over the unremitted $49.8 billion oil revenue to the Federation Account, was leaked to former President Olusegun Obasanjo by the CBN governor himself.
However the CBN Governor is refusing to resign, on the grounds that he could only be removed by two-thirds of the Senate as required by law.
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who has criticized the economic policies of President Jonathan's government, is said to have irked the administration many times in the past and as a result is no longer in favour.
The Report said, in a heated telephone exchange between President Goodluck and the CBN governor, the governor denied leaking the letter to the former President.
Since December 2, 2013, there has been an exchange of words - through open letters, between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Jonathan Goodluck.
In his letter on December 2, 2013 President Obasanjo referred to missing funds in his letter of December 2, 2013 and concerns about the security situation in the country, among other issues in his letter titled "Before It Is Too Late".
In the letter, the former president made allusions to over one thousand people placed on a political watch list, unremitted $49.8 billion oil revenue to the Federation Account as well as former Presidents and Heads of Government before the incumbent, starting from former President Alhaji Shehu Shagari, an action that did not go down well with the incumbent.
In his reply, President Goodluck Jonathan recounted the many achievements of his administration including on security saying "Those who continue to down-play our successes in this regard, amongst whom you must now be numbered, appear to have conveniently forgotten the depths to which security in our country had plunged before now."
President Jonathan said that at a stage, almost the entire North-East of Nigeria was under siege by insurgents with bombings of churches and public buildings in the North and the federal capital which became an almost weekly occurrence.
He said "Our entire national security apparatus seemed nonplussed and unable to come to grips with the new threat posed by the berthing of terrorism on our shores. But my administration has since brought that very unacceptable situation under significant control."
He challenged President Obasanjo to give the names of the over 1000 people on a famed political watch list.
With respect to missing oil funds, President Goodluck said he was surprised that President Obasanjo believed that some USD49.8 billion, a sum equal to Nigeria's entire national budget for two years, is “unaccounted for” by the NNPC.
President Goodluck demanded an apology from the former President for misleading "unwary Nigerians and impugning the integrity of my administration on that score", because the CBN Government publicly said he was "misconstrued".
But in a swift response, Presidential Spokesman, Reuben Abati is reminding the world the many achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, including:
Posting a series of LestWeForgets messages, the spokemsman said the administration has:
1) received close to $3 billion in support from the World Bank, the ADB, IFAD, & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
2) is structuring deals with many of world’s leading agribusiness brands – Nestle, Cargill, Unilever and AGCO, to name a few.
3) attracted $4 billion in executed private sector letters of commitment to invest in our agricultural sector over the past two years.
4) is recapitalizing the palm oil production by providing 9 million high-yielding seedlings tosmallholder farmers & plantation estates.
5) distributed 114 million seedlings of high-yielding cocoa hybrids to farmers – free of charge.
6) attracted Dominion Rice, a US company, to invest $40 million in a 30,000-hectare commercial rice farm and milling operation.
7) ended 4 decades of corruption in the seed and fertilizer sectors within 90 Days, following the introduction of GES, Govt.
8) In 2013, 240,000 tons of cotton was produced.
9) planting 154,750 hectares of cotton by an estimated 156,000 farmers. The seeds are valued at N481 million, resulting in 240,000 tons of cotton being produced in 2013.
10)getting the private sector to build 13 New Rice Mills with a total capacity of 240,000 metric tones.
11)In 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture produced 690,000 metric tones in rainy season. In 2013, paddy production in wet season rose to 1,692,000 metric tones.
Still, with the CBN Governor refusing to quit, it is not immediately clear what line of action President Jonathan will take to resolve and defuse the tension.
* Twitter: @bensonagoha.
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