Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati has dismissed a report by an online news portal, Saharareporters, that the Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusau has resigned just a week after he was sworn-in.
According to the report, the minister was infuriated and threatened to quit after being “talked down’ by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, at a meeting between him and the service chiefs. A source from The Punch also revealed that it took the intervention of the Senate President, David Mark, and former President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to make Gusau have a rethink.
Dr. Abati told State House correspondents that Gusau’s absence at the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday was with the permission of the President.
“He was absent from today’s FEC meeting and this particular online medium cited that in support of its allegation that he has resigned but he was absent at the meeting with the permission of the President. The story is not true, he remains in office.
“He (Gusau) himself has issued a statement on it but I think this further clarification is necessary before we are confronted with a situation whereby all kinds of wild speculations begin to come up and the story begins to develop undesirable branches.”
The Presidents spokesman also accused the suspended CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido of playing politics with serious national issues and engaging in cheap blackmail by trying to paint a bad image of the Jonathan administration and inciting the public against his government.
“We have noted with disappointment the unrelenting attempt by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to falsely portray his recent suspension from office as an attempt by the Presidency to bury his allegation that huge sums of money due to the Federation Account are unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
“The Presidency wishes to reaffirm that Sanusi’s suspension has absolutely nothing to do with his unproven and inconsistent claim that $49.8bn, $12bn or $20bn is missing from the national treasury.
“As was clearly stated in the letter suspending him from office and confirmed by President Goodluck Jonathan in his last Presidential Media Chat, Mallam Sanusi’s suspension was wholly based on the need for him to step aside, while the weighty charges of financial recklessness, gross misconduct and persistent disregard for laid down rules and regulations in the management of the central bank made against him by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and others are properly investigated.
“It is most unfortunate that instead of trying to provide some reasonable response to the clear and unambiguous query of his official conduct as governor of the central bank, Mallam Sanusi has cynically chosen to whip up public sympathy for himself and anger against the Federal Government by deliberately misleading unwary Nigerians and the international community into believing the falsehood that he is being punished for exposing corruption.
“In recent days, the suspended CBN governor has, following in the footsteps of others who have an axe to grind with the government, taken to spreading his false claims and allegations through gullible foreign media correspondents, telling them, among other things, that his threat to force commercial banks to open up their books to unravel the whereabouts of the ‘missing’ funds, whether $49.8bn, $12bn, or $20bn, ultimately led to his suspension.
“He also continues to make the mischievous claim that the government is somehow involved in a scam to divert huge sums of money from the Federation Account through the misappropriation of kerosene subsidy funds.
“Mallam Sanusi’s allegations are patently untrue. But government is making no effort to bury them as he falsely claims. Relevant committees of the National Assembly are still investigating the claims and the suspended CBN governor remains free to give evidence before them in support of his allegations.
“Furthermore, in keeping with its avowed commitment to full transparency, openness and accountability in governmental affairs, the Federal Government has authorised the engagement of reputable international firms for the recommended forensic audit of the NNPC accounts.”
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