APC To Jonathan: Tread Softly On CBN Governor jonathan...

LEADERSHIP – The All Progressives.Congress (APC) has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to tread softly on his reported plan to force the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to resign, because of the impact such will have on the nation’s economy. In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said asking the CBN governor to step down, on the basis of a mere allegation that he leaked the letter he wrote to the President, over the unremitted $49.8 billion oil revenue, was not good for an economy that was already on crutches.
It warned that any move to suspend Sanusi and use security forces to prevent him from entering his office, as reported by the media, would even be worse, because it would mean that the President was willing to circumvent the provision of the law that the governor of the CBN could only be removed by two-thirds of the Senate.
APC said suspending Sanusi would be a replay of the damage that President Jonathan did to the judiciary when he suspended Salami until his retirement, and he could easily re-enact such scenario if, for example, he felt that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission had offended him.
”Our worry here is that the President should not destroy our institutions before he leaves office,” the APC said.
It said the party’s main reason for commenting on the planned removal of Sanusi, either through forced retirement or via suspension, was the impact that a crisis of confidence between the President and the CBN governor would have on the nation’s economy.
”This include a loss of confidence in the economic management of the country, leading to uncertainty among domestic and foreign investors, as well as pressure on the exchange rate as foreign portfolio investors in government bonds and the stock market make their exit, and the corresponding fall in the value of share prices.
”Overall, a protracted standoff between the President and the CBN governor will spell bad news for economic growth and employment and increase poverty. This is why we advise President Jonathan against precipitating a crisis in the economy, and we urge all Nigerians to advise him against such,” the APC said.
The party said there was nothing wrong in a CBN governor alerting the President to any discrepancy he noticed in the remittance of revenue from oil, which was the mainstay of the economy, adding that such action was expected from any CBN governor who was worth his salt.
It said there was no reason to believe that Sanusi leaked the letter he wrote to the President, especially as the CBN governor wrote the letter in September and the letter was not leaked until December.
”It stands to reason that if the CBN governor had wanted to leak the letter, he had no reason waiting for four months to do so. Also, the moment the letter was sent to Mr. President, it had gone beyond the purview of the CBN governor, and anyone with a reason to do so could as well leak it.
”Therefore, for the President to have made the extraordinary move to force out the CBN governor, even though he has a few months to the end of his tenure, smacks of vendetta and is capable of impacting negatively on the economy. Circumventing the law to force out the CBN governor will amount to brigandage and reinforce the perception of the Jonathan administration as one with a propensity for impunity,” it said.