CBN Governor Forced to Leave Over Leaked Letter

SaharaReporters has learnt that Nigeria's Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, will be forced to leave his post in March, 2014, two months before the formal expiration of his tenure.

Two sources at the Presidency and a source at the Central Bank disclosed to
SaharaReporters that Mr. Sanusi has been
ordered to proceed on a post-retirement
leave in March.

According to all the sources, the early exit
for the CBN henchman is occasioned by Mr. Sanusi's recent leaked letter to President Goodluck Jonathan detailing the theft of close to $50 billion in oil proceeds by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Last week, Mr. Sanusi revised the figure of
missing funds down to $12 billion, but the
damage to the Jonathan Presidency is
considered massive.

It was also gathered that Mr. Jonathan has concluded plans to speedily replace the CBN governor whom the president believes set out to embarrass his government.

"[President] Jonathan thinks that Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi has been making erratic
pronouncements recently calculated to
demean the office of the President," said a
source in the Presidency.

Presidency officials accused the CBN
governor of leaking a private letter written
to President Jonathan in which Nigeria's
chief banker complained about fraud
perpetrated by officials of the NNPC and
the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Ms. Alison-
Madueke is extremely close to the president and is believed to be the arrowhead of Mr. Jonathan's corrupt schemes, especially in the oil sector.

Additionally, one of the sources at the
Presidency told SaharaReporters that,
although Mr. Sanusi's allegations were
substantially accurate, the CBN governor
was forced to back down from the more
damaging aspects of his claims after the president's associates threatened to make
an issue of his reckless spending and
philandering.

"Once Sanusi found out that the Presidency
was determined to deal with him, both
through the media and by instigating the
EFCC to look into his spending habits, he
was willing to retreat and to accept an early departure," said our source.

Shortly after the CBN governor was
effectively blackmailed and brought under
control, he appeared before the Nigerian
Senate and reversed his position, claiming
that the NNPC was only unable to reconcile $12 billion of crude oil sale earnings.

It was shortly after Mr. Sanusi's Senate
appearance that President Jonathan
ordered that the CBN governor's retirement
should be fast-tracked. Mr. Sanusi, who is
believed to nurse an ambition to become the
next Emir of Kano, had publicly stated that he does not intend to stay for another term.