Former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, clashed on Thursday over the circumstances surrounding Sanusi’s removal as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during Jonathan’s presidency.
The disagreement came during the launch of a book titled *Public Policy and Agents Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging World*, co-authored by former Finance Minister Shamshudeen Usman and Emir Sanusi.
Sanusi, who served as CBN governor from 2009 until his removal in 2014, had previously claimed that he was dismissed for alerting the public to missing government funds totaling $49.8 billion. During the event, Jonathan firmly denied this, stating that Sanusi was suspended due to financial infractions at the CBN and not because of any whistleblowing.
Jonathan said, “He was not sacked. He was suspended because the Financial Reporting Council queried the expenditure of CBN. There were serious infractions that needed to be looked at. But before we could finish, his tenure elapsed.”
The former president also addressed the allegations of missing funds, asserting that no such amount was ever lost during his administration. He added, “Till today, I am not convinced that the Federal Government lost $49.8 billion. Our budget that year was $31.6 billion, so how could we lose $50 billion and still pay salaries?”
Jonathan further pointed out that Sanusi had changed the figures multiple times, from $49.8 billion to $20 billion and later to $12 billion. “I don’t even know the correct one,” Jonathan remarked. He said that the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) later confirmed that no such amount was missing, though $1.48 billion could not be accounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
In response, Emir Sanusi humorously referred to Jonathan as “my boss who sacked me” and maintained that he was, in fact, dismissed. “I was constructively dismissed,” Sanusi said, adding that he holds no grudges and continues to respect Jonathan.
This disagreement stems from Sanusi’s earlier claims that his removal was politically motivated after he raised concerns about the alleged missing funds. However, Jonathan’s denial suggests that the suspension was based on financial issues within the CBN rather than any whistleblowing activities.
