The former governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria now Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II in a recent interview with
Forbes TV discussed the controversies surrounding the letter he sent to former
President Goodluck Jonathan alleging that $49.8 billion was missing from NNPC
account.
In the interview, Sanusi mentioned the Minister of Transport,
Rotimi Amaechi as the person who leaked the letter to the public.
The Minister has released a
statement explaining his role in the letter
Read Amaechi's statement below:
“To put the records straight, we want to categorically state
that a concerned and patriotic Nigerian who felt sufficiently troubled with
what was happening then, gave a copy of the Sanusi letter to Amaechi, in
Amaechi’s capacity, at the time, as Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF.
Like Amaechi, we should appreciate that concerned Nigerian’s patriotism. When
Amaechi got the letter, he spoke with Sanusi, who was still the CBN governor,
to confirm the authenticity of the letter. Sanusi confirmed to Amaechi that he
wrote the letter. During their conversation, Amaechi made it abundantly clear
to the then CBN governor that the bleeding of the nation had to be stopped, all
non-remitted funds remitted and that he (Amaechi) was going to use the letter
to do whatever was in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians, which was
the stoppage of the non-remittance and the recovery of all the non-remitted
funds from oil sale. The CBN governor didn’t agree with Amaechi on the way
forward. Considering that the letter was given to Amaechi as Chairman of the
Governors’ Forum, he shared the letter with his colleague governors first, and
with Senator Bukola Saraki (now Senate President), who before and around that
period, was doing some work or/and investigation around the oil sector in the
Senate. Around that period, a delegation from the United States of America
government, from the offices of the Secretaries of State and Defense, visited
Amaechi in Port Harcourt to discuss the issue of oil theft in Nigeria. From their
records, they gave Amaechi figures of about $7 billion, annually, that was
being lost to oil theft in Nigeria. They were discussing the issue and figures
of oil theft, and that was how the CBN governor’s letter to President Jonathan
came up. In the presence of journalists covering the visit, Amaechi brought out
the Sanusi letter to the visiting American delegation to buttress the point
that Nigeria was losing far more money to non-remittance of proceeds from oil
sale into the Federation Account, which everyone seemed to concur, was in
itself, another form and another dimension to the issue of oil theft. To
suggest, infer or even extrapolate that Amaechi surreptitiously, clandestinely
or underhandedly ‘leaked’ the CBN governor’s (Sanusi’s) letter is indeed most
unfair, disrespectful and uncharitable to his person. Amaechi did what he did
because he believed that the theft and corruption was just too much. He was
propelled by his patriotic zeal to put Nigeria first, do what was in the best
interest of the nation, and stop the bleeding of our collective resources by a
few. The mind boggling corruption revelations in the recent past, that is still
ongoing, clearly justifies and vindicates Amaechi’s stance on the issue and the
actions he took. Faced with the same situation, under similar circumstances,
Amaechi will not act differently. The good of Nigeria, putting the nation and
Nigerians first, will always be his guiding principle." the statement read.
