|
Following strong signals that Prof.
Chukwuma Soludo may not be re-appointed
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), bigwigs from the South-east
geo-political zone and key bankers have
stepped up moves to save his job.
THISDAY had reported at the weekend that
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was
seriously considering the Group Managing
Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc,
Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as Soludo’s
replacement as no CBN governor had
enjoyed tenure renewal since 1993.
THISDAY learnt that following the
report, some top political and business
elite have been holding a series of
meetings to map out strategies to save
Soludo.
Some of the meetings were attended by
serving senators and members of the
House of Representatives, as well as the
Igbo intelligentsia.
“It would appear Igbos are being quietly
eased out of government no matter their
performance in office,” a source who
attended some of the meetings told
THISDAY.
The anger of some of them stemmed from
the possibility of having to be made to
forgo one of the positions of
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and
CBN governor.
“The meeting discussed this issue and
considered it very self-serving. How
come the North did not have to choose
between Ministry of Petroleum Resources
and Group Managing Director of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC)?” another source said.
The notion that Yar’Adua cannot make the
two appointments from the same zone at
the same time was also dismissed, with
examples being cited of when other zones
of the country filled the positions
simultaneously.
“The meeting considered it ridiculous
the suggestion that the IGP and the CBN
governor cannot come from the same zone.
In 1999, Chief Joseph Sanusi was
appointed CBN governor and Alhaji
Musiliu Smith IGP at the same time. Both
of them were from the South-west. When
the late Abdulkadir Ahmed was CBN
governor, we had Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo
and Ibrahim Coomasie as IGPs at various
times,” he added.
At one of the meetings, some Igbo
politicians expressed concern at the
dwindling fortune of the South-east in
the present government.
“Ernest Ndukwe’s tenure is about to end.
He has less than a year to go. It is
true that the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Mr. Bernard Shaw Nwadulo, is
from our zone, but he was appointed a
few weeks ago and he is due for
retirement in August 2009. He will
proceed on terminal leave in July,” the
source said.
THISDAY was told that the meeting
considered it “confounding” that despite
the global accolade Soludo had been
receiving, the government would want to
do away with him.
The newspaper was told that part of the
outcome of the meetings was the letter
written to Yar’Adua on Monday by the
Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Housing and Urban Development, Senator
Ikechukwu Obiorah (Anambra South),
advising him on the need to adhere to
the principle of federal character in
the appointment of a new CBN governor.
He said the Minister of Finance, Dr.
Mansur Muhtar, and the Minister of
National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman,
are both from Kano State – where Sanusi
also comes from.
Meanwhile, THISDAY has learnt that the
lobby to get Soludo’s term renewed has
been intensified, with the chief
executive of a first generation bank
enlisting Chief Tony Anenih in an
attempt to persuade the Presidency on
the matter.
There are also fears that if the
President does not move in on time to
make a definite pronouncement quickly,
it could affect the financial markets in
Nigeria and reverberate on the
international level.
A financial analyst said: “The CBN
position must not be left to
uncertainty. It could do damage to
Nigeria’s financial market. This is
unlike the position of the DG of
Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)
which has been left vacant for weeks.”
A Presidency source however warned last
night that the intensity of the lobby
may backfire as the President may
finally choose to go for a “neutral”
person. |
