The Bully Called Sanusi
22 Sep 2012
Views: 19,567

By Dele Momodu


Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to borrow the cliché that “whatever has a beginning must have an end.” This is the only way I can describe what seems to be an end to Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s reign of recklessness and authoritarianism at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Even if he remains in office till 2014 when his tenure mandatorily expires, he has already waltzed his way into a cul-de-sac. The reason is very simple. Sanusi appears to be a poor student of Nigerian history; otherwise, he would have known that whenever Nigerians are hailing the disciplinarian father of a recalcitrant child, the same people always turn around to ask if he wants to kill his own baby. The attention span of an average Nigerian is short and limited. Nigerians are a people perpetually in search of new heroes. We are a people so confused about what we want, whether democracy or militocracy. Many years of debilitating military interventions and interregnum have turned us into victims of acute psychological impairment.

That must be the reason many of us often deify those we believe can help us punish, or even kill, our enemies. But our romance with kill-and-go administrations is always short-lived. A good example was when the Shehu Shagari government was terminated in 1983 by Mohammadu Buhari and Babatunde Idiagbon, Nigerians spilled into the streets like locusts to celebrate their victory over a most profligate ruling party known then as the National Party of Nigeria. Many prominent members of NPN were hounded into prison, house arrest and exile. Jubilant Nigerians even saw nothing wrong with the despicable attempt to crate Alhaji Umaru Dikko alive and the abortive “mission impossible” to smuggle him back to Nigeria. We tend to love and promote selective justice and injustice. We support whichever is more convenient at any particular time.

The same Nigerians flooded the streets when the man with the toothy smile, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida did his own coup and sent Buhari and Idiagbon into premature retirement. Yet Babangida did the exact opposite of what Buhari did by giving a human face to dictatorship and inviting prominent Nigerians to serve in his government. He garnished his solid team with a few social critics and freed the Buhari captives from arbitrary incarceration. Babangida did not end it there, he forced open the dreaded cells of the then National Security Organisation where political detainees were tied down and lived like animals. Sympathetic Nigerians thanked the new benevolent ruler and embraced him warts and all. Buhari and Idiagbon simply melted into oblivion.

Sooner than later, Babangada started his transition games and started dribbling Nigerians with the dexterity and foxiness of the legendary Maradona and his infamous ‘hand of God’. He shifted the goal posts several times while the game was on. He even transfigured, without the benefit of elections or any referendum, into a civilian President and held the whole nation spellbound. He banned and unbanned potential candidates at will in a classic case of chess whilst keeping a straight poker face all the time. Nigerians watched in utter amazement, helplessness and befuddlement as someone played them like Ping-Pong. Meanwhile, it was alleged that under Babangida, corruption stank to high heavens. The chief critic at the time was General Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo who called IBB all manner of unprintable names.

To cut a bad story short, an election was conducted on June 12, 1993, and the presidency was won by Chief Moshood Abiola but was annulled by General Babangida for reasons yet to be disclosed till this day. In the middle of this higgledy-piggledy, a contraption called the Interim National Government was hurriedly packaged and Chief Ernest ‘Degunle Shonekan was made its Head. That government lasted only a few months when the maximum ruler with dark goggles, General Sani Abacha arrived on the scene and sacked the ING with automatic alacrity, and everyone scampered into safety without as much as a whimper.

If IBB loved to smile like a beautiful bride, Abacha was the exact opposite as a gloomy groom. His mien was something else and everyone feared him with utter trepidation. He took over the liability of June 12 and appropriated the mandate to himself. Those who challenged him soon found their ways into prisons or on the road to Golgotha. Two of Nigeria’s most powerful army Generals of all times, General Obasanjo and Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua who tried to monkey with Abacha were both roasted like chicken in Abacha’s gulag. While Obasanjo was lucky to stay alive and live to tell the tale, Yar’Adua was very unfortunate, as he died in prison and was silenced forever. The winner of the election MKO Abiola and his wife Kudirat died under different circumstances. Other pro-democracy activists suffered various collateral damages, including death.

Is it not strange that the powers-that-be in their wisdom sooner than later thought it fit to invite General Obasanjo to take over the mandate that should have been that of Abiola? The man who made it all happen was Babangida who had been publicly scandalised many times by the same Obasanjo. It is also interesting that Obasanjo would later block the same Babangida who helped him back to power when the man wanted to stage a comeback. The drama also became a theatre of the absurd when General Mohammed Buhari also came back on the scene after quitting power since 1985. He’s been contesting permanently since 2003 and he’s yet to give up. The same Nigerians who called him the wicked tyrant are the same people saying he’s the best man for the task of changing Nigeria for the better no matter how old and weak he may have become since leaving power 27 years ago.

This is my summary of Nigeria’s history that Sanusi failed to read or possibly chose to ignore. A good student of Nigerian history would always try to check when the market is over and the traders must close shop and go home. Sanusi did not understand this and behaved as if he was the de facto President of Nigerian. He had cashed in on the weakness of the Jonathan administration to run his own parallel government and haul insults at anyone who dared to challenge him. He neither spared the executive nor the legislative arms of government. He went meandering from one controversial policy to the other and bullied everyone into submission. If he didn’t know other things, he understood the magnitude of our docility and took full advantage of it. It was always obvious to discerning minds that Sanusi is a man of tall ambitions who was willing to do anything to achieve his aims and goals. He spent money on outlandish projects and anything that caught his fancy and ran a personal fiefdom.

I must confess that when Mallam Sanusi started his highly-controversial tenure at CBN, on June 4, 2009, I saw through the smokescreen of his vengeful mission very early in the day, and warned many of those jumping up like frogs thinking a Messiah had finally landed on our shores to take caution. While acknowledging his academic brilliance, I was duly worried about his unbridled radicalism. He did everything in the extreme and lacked the tolerance to persuade others. In the process, he stepped on too many toes and acted like he was beyond control. He fought for total autonomy for the CBN and campaigned vociferously against any form of audit by anyone of his actions as CBN Governor. He thus became a loose cannon and a sword of Damocles against his foes. His word was law as everyone feared his tempestuous outbursts.

You must give it to him, Sanusi is a princely and charming man. He’s the type that most ladies would see and curtsey. He loves attention and attracts it almost effortlessly. He would have done so well as a Nollywood actor or a music superstar. It is strange how a man of such sartorial tastes ended up in banking and not showbiz. The profession he chose was traditionally reserved for taciturn and conservative characters and not for vainglorious and adventurous rabble-rousers. His major weakness was his sharp tongue. He could almost raise the dead with it.

Sanusi had managed to capitalise on the kill-and-go mentality of most Nigerians to win sympathy for his dangerous annihilation of his enemies without caring for the stray bullets that may hit innocent bystanders. In other to catch a few rats, Sanusi chose to set fire to the whole village. He needed to disguise his real intentions and motives by taking on an entire institution and sacking otherwise brilliant bankers in the process. Some innocent people had their eventful careers terminated by a rampaging bull that was goaded on by a neurotic society and a vindictive population. It was so tragic that the warnings of a few of us fell on the deaf ears of those who were more interested in the extra-judicial crucifixion of those perceived as rogue bankers. Nigerians allowed themselves to be mesmerised and hypnotised and hoodwinked by a quintessential bully in search of victims to devour.

Sanusi’s eloquence and debonair presence made it possible for many of his unwary admirers to get carried away by his sophistry. But they didn’t need to look too far to realise that his combative approach would soon go up in smoke like others before him. Perhaps, he would have fared better as a military dictator than as a sanitary inspector in the cesspool of banking mess. The game he played was too hot to handle and for too long. He should have known that one way or the other anyway, the chicken must come home to roost. And bullies always have their terminal dates. This is because, according to Wikipedia, “a bully is a constant harasser of the weak.” A bully argues his victims into submission through intimidation and name calling.

Wikipedia explains further that a bully is usually arrogant and narcissistic and by bullying others, he feels empowered. He suffers from “personality disorders, quickness to anger, use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviours, engaging in obsessive or rigid actions…well-planned and orchestrated attempts at character-assassination…” It explains that a bully cannot exist or thrive without the active connivance “of a large group of relatively uninvolved bystanders.” It is the ability of the bully to create the illusion of a support base from the majority that propels him to instil the fear of God into people and prevent them from speaking out against him. This is palpable in Sanusi’s case as no member of the economic team or the Institute of Bankers could openly speak up against the excesses of this man. Even our President appeared to have been clearly subdued; the reason he quickly assented to a foolish experiment. Bullies exert and expand their power when they see the unwillingness of anyone to challenging or taking them on because they depend largely on mob action.

Wikipedia puts it succinctly: “When the bully encounters no negative response from observers, it provides social approval for the bullying and encourages continuation of the behaviour.” Most people ignore bullies because they are not in any present danger themselves, or may feel that there’s no point becoming the next victim, so better to keep mute. But there is never a guarantee that anyone can escape the bully, as General Obasanjo must have discovered when Sanusi referred to him as “a poor economist.”

I believe three things ended Sanusi’s regime of fear. The first is that he did not gauge the mood of his ubiquitous mob who did not subscribe to his N5,000 note misadventure. If he read their lips, he would have known he was on his own and would have avoided the risk of dancing naked in the market place. And the second was his attempt to stylishly rubbish a former President and Commander-in-Chief, Olusegun Obasanjo. No matter the degree of the seeming cold war between Obasanjo and his estranged godson, President Goodluck Jonathan, no one would allow Sanusi get away with such sauciness while he’s still a public servant.

The last straw is the rumour of Sanusi’s Presidential ambition which he has since denied. But denial or not, the Jonathan crew would never close their two eyes again where Sanusi is concerned, and he has become a potential enemy and a marked man whose wings must be clipped.

He should have realised that a child who buys a pair of shoes for his limping father must be ready to listen to the dark tales of his lineage.
By his own feathers, Sanusi is now smitten! That is how the cookies always crumble.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-bully-called-sanusi/125634/

Yes your write up is so wonderful that I could not stop to re- read
To me I will and always say that anyone Nigerian clamour for always put
Nigerian down....When he was appointed as CBN chairman, Then I said it
But people around me said I should not judge him but now everybody can
See their CBN saviour work at hand....Don't you know that before
Some set of Nigerian clamour for a person; they have plan at hand and
Which sanusi can not change but nevertheless he has his own hidden agenda
So shout now...Then most bankers stood up for him and many of them are
No place to be found...Sanusi is an ex-militia who want everythings to
Be done in his way not Nigerian way....Even GEJ couldn't open his eyes to
Take it any more.....so my conclusion is that Nigerian should stop to
Elect or vote for clamour personality again...If not; event will repeat
Itself....that is call History......

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/opinion/48092--momodu-abuse-of-columnism


Momodu: Abuse of columnism



Written by Suraj Oyewale Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Give me a good piece, nicely crafted in fine language and you have made my day. This is why opinion and column pages of newspapers attract me more than any other part of a newspaper. There are columnists in Nigeria whose weekly columns I have not missed for many years. I buy newspapers because of columnists and my good friends in Thisday will forgive me if I confess that Dele Momodu is the reason I stopped buying Saturday editions of the paper since 2010. There are a number of Nigerian columnists I don’t agree with, but that fact doesn’t stop me from reading them, but not Momodu. And the reason is simple: I can’t stand men that don’t stand for anything and will easily fall for anything.

The popularisation of the Social Media has given rise to a number of emergency activists in recent time. From Facebook to twitter, these pretenders are there, taking advantage of the public mood, pretending to be on the side of the masses. If Dino ‘Mike Tyson’ Melaye thought we had forgotten how he was captured on live TV shamelessly punching a woman co-member of the lower chamber just two years ago, then we can forgive Femi Fani-Kayode for suddenly finding his voice as a freelance activist. After all, it’s been more than five years that he has lost his national relevance and eagerly needs attention again. Malam Nasir el-Rufai, even if ahead of these fellows in terms of performance while in office, also needs to watch his twitter activities as his needless attacks on the current administration is becoming boring and worn out, and even in unmoderated cyberspace, decency calls for moderation.

But while the above mentioned emergency activists’ activities are more on the social media, Momodu, in addition to his thoughtless twitter postings, also has a formal medium, his Saturday column in Thisday, to himself to lecture us on governance and people. Until recently, Momodu hardly wrote on politics. His turf is entertainment and I have no business with that – that is his choice. Week in, week out, if Momodu is not praising Ghana, he is entertaining us with how he sat in the fourth row in Michael Jackson’s burial service, how he spoke with Mike Adenuga the night before, how he visited MKO Abiola in London, how he visited Siberia or Djibouti, how he fought during the Liberia war, or how he owned a Limousine. But the few times Momodu’s pendulum swings to politics and political economy, one wonders whether he would not have done better staying in his entertainment and photography turf. Among such days was Saturday, September 22, 2012.

Someone had posted an article entitled ‘The Bully called Sanusi’ in an online discussion forum without referencing the author. My quick googling of the original article directed me to Thisday website and I saw the article as Momodu’s. I had expected Momodu to do better this time round, given the fact that there is a very good case to disagree with CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in his current proposed but now suspended currency restructuring exercise – an exercise I also hold is not well-advised. But rather than Momodu dealing with the substance of the matter this time round, he continued from where he stopped in 2009 when Sanusi sacked two of his celebrity friends in the banking industry. In an article he wrote in 2009, Momodu, while subtly admitting patronage from two of the sacked bank bosses for his magazine business, chided SLS for his kamikaze reforms. To Momodu, it is no crime to empty depositors’ monies, inasmuch as such looters patronise his photography business. After all, he saw no wrong in promoting Babangida and Abacha’s ill-acquired opulence in his magazine for the right prices. Thankfully, he did not find corruption in SLS’s baggage – the common denominator of all his (Momodu’s) patrons in both the private and public sectors.

Momodu wrote: “He (Sanusi) needed to disguise his real intentions and motives by taking on an entire institution and sacking otherwise brilliant bankers in the process”. Even after one of Momodu’s ‘brilliant bankers’ owed up to stealing the funds and judicially accepting to forfeit assets in addition to paying back N191 billion, to Momodu, the matter is still a case of witch-hunting and disguised motive. Whatever is Sanusi’s motive, Momodu should be bold enough to admit his benefactors’ thievery. That is when we can begin to take him seriously.

The currency redenomination proposal, for all its benefits, doesn’t sound convincing enough to me as well-advised, but Sanusi not getting it right this time doesn’t diminish the good things he had done in the past, especially instilling sanity in our financial system. So the old music of ‘hidden agenda’, as sung by the likes of Momodu since 2009, is faded and if Dele’s mission is to take advantage of the current public sentiments against Sanusi to revise history, he has failed woefully.

Momodu also made a veiled attempt to set Sanusi against his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan. Even though this is not new, as a serving Senator even made a more direct remark in that regard recently, the analysis is an orchestrated mis-read of events. If anything, the hesitation exercised by the President before finally succumbing to socio-political pressure to suspend Sanusi’s policy only shows the President still has confidence in the CBN leadership.

Expectedly, Momodu did not fail to lend his voice to the pepper soup joint talk about Sanusi’s presidential ambition. No serious media will take that seriously, because it doesn’t take personal knowledge to know Sanusi fares better as a critic than as a politician and clearly not the type that will climb the podium to dish out those lies called electoral manifestoes as it is done in this part of the world. Above all, he has never hidden his ultimate ambition in life.

In any case, even at the nadir of his popularity today, if Sanusi were to contest presidential election, he would surely poll more than one hundred times the miserable 26,000 Momodu returned countrywide in 2011!

He who lives in glass house should not throw stone.

Oyewale, a blogger and public commentator, lives in Lagos.

DELE MOMODU PLEASE BE MUTE!

Story story-rubbish story.abeg comot for page joo.no b dis same yeye u dey full urself say u warn rule us.sanusi na ur mate.animal like u.go take picture jare 4 ur yeye magazine. Shio

[quote author=LocalChamp]The Bully Called Sanusi
22 Sep 2012
Views: 19,567

By Dele Momodu


Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to borrow the cliché that “whatever has a beginning must have an end.” This is the only way I can describe



I love this. beautiful

all dis lamentations for dis kind early morning,Mr Jarus are you now Mallam Sanusi's Attack dog

Dele Momodu is an assassin!
See murder.
R.I.P Sanusi

Oya where are the Cattle rearers make Una come defend una Prince of Bok......M

Really wonderful write-up

BOOOOO!!!!

Dele Momodu telling us why Nigeria is a mess and will not change but we cease to believe this trash. It is not dictatorship but reform. Most reforms have always met stiff resistance in most economies- see Thatcher's austerity plan in Britain in the early 1980's. I can imagine what Britain would have been today if Thatcher did not take those hard measures during Britain's debt crisis of the 1970's and early 1980's. Is She loved by many today? No!!! But the truth remains She did the right things given Britain's economic condition at the time. It is difficult to change people from the old order but it has to be done if you want to move forward.

It is the same thing with Fashola today who tries to instill an orderly way of life in the people but meets a stiff resistance by the citizens and even his Oga Asiwaju.

Dele Momodu has always benefited from cronyism and so will deride anyone who seeks to change that order.

those men are crying because SANUSI stop them borrowing from bank
henceforth, Dele Momodu is a working tools in the hand of Dangote and their economy comrade

I luv this article. Thumbs up Momodu.
RIP Sanusi

Who is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Written by Uche Igwe

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Dan Majen of Kano must be both saddened and probably shocked wherever he is now. I do not know the Central Bank Governor in person. I saw him first at the annual meeting of African Development Bank in Abidjan in 2010 and then in Washington DC earlier in the year but did not get to chat with him. However, since he was appointed the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, I have been following his utterances and actions cautiously and methodically.

slsOne must admit he has taken some steps which portrayed him as a man with enormous guts and convictions. The sack and subsequent prosecution of Managing Directors of five banks suggest that Mr. Sanusi could bring an end to ‘business-as-usual’ practices in the Nigerian banking industry. Furthermore, the man called SLS by his admirers never shied away from public debates as it can be said to be to his credit that the debate about the salaries of federal lawmakers was brought to the public domain.

Both in 2010 and 2011, Emerging Markets Magazine named him the World’s Central Bank Governor of the year. In 2011, Times Magazine voted him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world while Forbes magazine voted him as Africa’s person of the year. These are no mean achievements that both his admirers and critics must acknowledge. But I am not carried away by them. Lest I forget, SLS has also till date procured about five honorary doctorate degrees for himself from five Nigerian Universities. Though the fact remains that these are no mean achievements either, there are so many things about the apex bank governor that deserve urgent clarification.

Many observers have raised justifiable reservations about his academic qualifications pointing to the fact that SLS may not be as qualified and may only be posturing. But that is by the way. His seeming knack for controversy has caused observers to continue to probe into his background to raise questions about whether Mr. Sanusi is using his position to advance national interest or a sectional one. His stubborn insistence on introducing Islamic banking and his controversial donation of 100 million naira to the Muslim victims of Kano bomb blasts partly confirmed rumours that continued to lurk around his personality. Never mind that he ran back to donate 25 million (one quarter of what he gave in Kano) to the Christian victims in Madala, Niger State in an effort to cover his shame.

Here is a man who conducted himself as though the Central Bank that he heads is a republic of its own even under the nose of a sitting President. You can take this to the bank. The main reason behind every conduct of Mr. Sanusi might be the fact that he is fully aware that he is not qualified and he is doing everything humanly possible to cover up his deficiencies. Although SLS has a bachelor’s degree in Economics, most of his writings before his appointment have been Sharia legal system only. Though Section 8 of the CBN Act is not explicit about the meaning of ‘proven integrity and recognised financial experience’, I argue that someone with Sanusi’s credentials could suffice as Governor in the sixties not in the era of globalization. One must continue to wonder the sort of system that throws up people who are relatively unknown to sensitive national positions based mainly on geographical considerations. I recall that Mr. Sanusi was nominated to that position at a time when the word cabal was probably the most important word in the Nigerian polity and that partly justifies the way he carried himself even after the cabal publicly lost out in the vicious power game. Both his utterances, his pattern of donations, even his policies sound like they are predesigned to make a particular section of the country comfortable and happy. A more objective and rigorous scrutiny of the actions carried out by SLS will reveal his ‘reforms’ might turn out to be one of the most unprofessional and whimsical consolidation exercises that have ever been conducted in the history of banking in Nigeria. Mr. Sanusi might have denied his rumoured Presidential ambition, but the trajectory of his new found philanthropy has sold him out. He will go down in history as one man who has made the highest amount of discretionary donations with public funds.

Probably the most disturbing is the allegation that Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is both a supporter and sympathiser of religious extremism. Dependable academic sources documented that one Sanusi Lamido Sanusi alleged played a catalytic role in the public beheading of one Mr. Gideon Akaluka in Kano in 1995 on a false allegation of desecrating the Muslim holy book. A 2003 report from the Centre for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School Harvard University, United States of America, affirms that this singular event sparked off the religious riots where thousands of Christians were massacred. It was said that Mr. Sanusi was expelled from Kano and locked up in Sokoto prisons for two years by the late Sani Abacha government until his benefactors bailed him out. Now, hang on a minute- could it be the same person or a case of mistaken identity? Who really is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi? A cerebral economist? A reform minded regulator? An ambitious politician? Or an Islamic fundamentalist? The answers to these questions will reveal the real personality of the head of the apex bank and can give ordinary Nigerians fresh insights as to what the next move of the Dan Majen Kano may be.

http://transparencyng.com/index.php/contributions/60-guest/7141-who-is-sanusi-lamido-sanusi

Beautiful poetry in the hands of a vengeful journalist. Dele Momodu fails to tell us why he is so angry with Sanusi. I dont remember Dele being a representative of the masses, but I see him dining with the fellows of corruption whose feeding on Nigerian bank loans Sanusi has finally stopped. Long Live Sanusi, Long Live Dele Momodu, Long Live Intelligence channeled against extremism.

Jarus: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/opinion/48092--momodu-abuse-of-columnism


Momodu: Abuse of columnism


Written by Suraj Oyewale Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Jarus............Defender of Sanusi.

Dele Momodu is a coward,riding on the current public sentiment to deride Sanusi just shows how this mans column is the least respected column in This Day.a waste of our backpage extra column space.That Soludu could not pass his currency zero cancellation does not in any way deminishes his competence and achievement. So also the suspention of the current currency redenomination does not in any way diminishes the achiement of sanusi vis a vis the financial crisis and banking reform. What a baby uncle Dele is,always writting with personal sentiment.

^{INTRESTINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. Space reserved............... (let me justify my pay for today first).}

Why don't we conduct proper background check on people before putting them in sensitive positions? Below is a link to a speech delivered by SLS in 1999 which clearly shows how much of a radical we have for a CBN Gov. He never knew he would become CBN Gov anyway. Someone with such radicalized mindset can never handle issues maturely like a CBN Gov. should.

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/iarticles/issues_in_restructuring_corporat.htm



@Jarus on the wrong side this time. i always love your comment on any thread safe the ones on SLS. YOUR ADMIRATION FOR THE MAN BLINDS YOU TO SO MANY THINGS.

Firstly, I am not and will never be a fan of Dele Momodu as I believe he is one of the many who has directly or indirectly profited from our commonwealth to fatten their bellies (u c the man now) and pockets. The memory of his association with "Gen. Maradona" and "Gen. Black Google" that brought him millions while the masses were suffering from the hands of these dictators still lingers on. He also benefited massively from the loots of his ex-bank chiefs dealt with by SLS. HOWEVER, HIS DESCRIPTION OF SANUSI AS A BULLY IN THE WRITE UP (imo)HITS THE BULL'S EYE.

The point of all the blah blah blah above from Dele Momodu - IN NIGERIA THE HUNTER (either justly or unjustly) ALWAYS END UP AS THE HUNTER.

SLS reforms are conceptually good but the execution are mostly laden with biase. He comes out to bambooze Nigerias (a section perhaps) with his oratory skills and bully the resistant ones to submission by his constant call for challenge and name calling (like he did to Baba Iyabo.

The following highlights the biase of SLS in some of his so called revolution @ CBN.

1. ISLAMIC BANKING

To begin with, I AM PROUDLY A MUSLIM. There is nothing i would love more than the practice of sharia in every facet of life (Social/economy/political) because i truly believe it is the path to peaceful co-existence. However, my ISLAM also teaches me TOLERANCE which calls for full appreciation/recognition of the MULTI-RELIGIOUS NATURE of this country. Truly, SLS met the idea on ground and leverage on it to promote the emergence of JAIZ ISLAMIC BANK (the first and only islamic bank in the country)owned by his close person (the former chairman of 1st bank when he was the MD). Despite, strong opposition, he shove it down our throat and only God stopped the outbreak of religious war in some parts of the country because of that. I became more puzzled the day i set my eyes on the balance sheet of JAIZ Bank and i saw interest earning from placement on it. Habaaa. What exactly is the essence of islamic banking? Is it not total avoidance of interest earning. So much for NON-INTEREST BANKING introduced by SLS. . A non-interest bank that is earning interest from fund placement. Na wa oooooo.


2. COINAGE OF N5 and N10.
SLS seems not to be in touch with the reality of the Nigerian society for even conceiving the idea and claiming it will not cause inflation. Every society has its own dynamics and Nigeria is in every sense "UNIQUE". Past experience in Naija has shown that turning a currency into coin is synonymous to public disappearance of that denomination. With this, SLS failed to realise that the step will automatically turn our SPENDING RANGE INTO 50s. Meaning no more Keke Napep for N30 or N40; Bariga to Gbagada not N40 again; common biscuit will begin to go for 4 for N50; etc. In theory, the step should not cause inflation but naija is not UK and the reverse of the theory will be the case. Afterall, economics itself is a social science (study of the society and every society is unique in its own sense).

I have prayed Jumat with SLS under the Marina bridge when he was still a Risk Mgt person @ UBA and i can tell he is in every bit not a commoner and has never been a commoner. But as a student of sharia why is he choosing to ignore the plight of the commoner when sharia in the real sense favours the commoners most. Is their any other motive behind this?

3. FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL

I watched with tears almost rolling down from my cheek the fuel subsidy debate on STV sometimes back. Prominent in attendance were SLS, NOI, Oshiomole, F. Falana. All except Falana spoke truly in defence of the masses. It was as if he already knew that the whole scheme was a scam (as we later witnessed). SLS and even Oshiomole were firmly in support of the removal of subsidy that never was in the first place. On that day i thought he was just another tool in the hand of the powers that be. ONLY FALANA RAISED THE FLAG OF HOPE FOR COMMON NIGERIANS ON THAT DAY. The effect of the subsidy removal is still choking us and you want to compound it with inflation from currency restructuring. Habbbbaaaaa.

4. BANKING REFORMS
This is a very controversial subject. I am sure it will still come up again one day. The reform was good but immaturely carried out and deeply laden with witch hunt and favouratism. The stress test that was conduct was nothing more than a bullet targeted at a few. IN FACT, IF AN OBJECTIVE STRESS TEST HAD BEEN CONDUCTED, NONE OF THE BANKS (SAFE GT (which didnt play much in the capital mkt) and STABIC (a specialist in investment banking that saw the crisis coming and dumped b4 it came)WOULD HAVE MANAGED TO PASS. They were all terribly exposed to the Capital Market and Oil & Gas Sector. Unity Bank was already Dead waiting to be pronounced as such but was given a chance to recapitalize and survive. As at that time they (including his so-called first bank) were all in shambles. Afterall that was where he saw all the trends as a risk person and later the MD. The reform was nothing but a selective judgement scheme.


I will say "HMMNNNNN A REFORM INDEED" and ask these few questions.

- If truly the industry is stabilized and sanitized as claimed by Jarus, WHY ARE SOME OF OUR BANKS, PARTICULARLY THOSE THAT BOUGHT SOME OTHER BANKS STILL EXPERIENCING LIQUIDITY STRAIN?

- MAINSTREET BANK is still battling its own crisis till today and they keep patching it up.


One can go on and on and on...........

I hope the pride and arrogance in the man will not prevent him from getting the message this time and thread softlyyyy.

I wish him well but also pray he changes his approach.

Counter attack win this one o!!!!

exalt2009: Yes your write up is so wonderful that I could not stop to re- read
To me I will and always say that anyone Nigerian clamour for always put
Nigerian down....When he was appointed as CBN chairman, Then I said it
But people around me said I should not judge him but now everybody can
See their CBN saviour work at hand....Don't you know that before
Some set of Nigerian clamour for a person; they have plan at hand and
Which sanusi can not change but nevertheless he has his own hidden agenda
So shout now...Then most bankers stood up for him and many of them are
No place to be found...Sanusi is an ex-militia who want everythings to
Be done in his way not Nigerian way....Even GEJ couldn't open his eyes to
Take it any more.....so my conclusion is that Nigerian should stop to
Elect or vote for clamour personality again...If not; event will repeat
Itself....that is call History......

CBN chairman? Governor you mean.

TYPICAL NIGERIAN LETTER. FULL OF UNWARRANTED BIG GRAMMAR. THIS DELE MOMODU GUY MUST THINK HE PENNED A KICK AZZ LETTER LOL.

President Jonathan Should Sack Sanusi Now! By Eghes Eyieyien

After reading Dele Momodu's article which he aptly titled " The Bully Called Sanusi" published in his back page column in the Saturday, 22nd September, 2012, edition of Thisday newspaper, the urgency to sack Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the CBN Governor dawned on me.

Sanusi has outlived his usefulness in that hallowed office! His arrogance, infantile flippancy, ineptitude and incompetence should no longer be countenanced. Why he has stayed in office this long despite his folly and foibles is a mystery.

Nigeria needs a new CBN Governor like YESTERDAY! My recommendation for the position is Mr. Ballama Manu. He was the Executive Director, Operations, NDIC; former, Executive Director, Union Bank; former Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service; and former Interim Chairman of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. He would make a great CBN Governor. By the way, he is from Yobe State and a Muslim. If the CBN Governor must be a northern Muslim, there are of course very many others who are imminently qualified: a person like Alh. Ado Wanka (MD of Unity Bank) and Mohammed K. Ahmad (Director General of the Pension Commission) readily come to mind.

But this is not even about section or religion. I am a NON-TRIBALISED (as distinct from "de-tribalised"!) Nigerian. My marriage, close friends, business associates and employees bear testimony to this fact.

Sanusi is an Old Boy of my alma mater (King's College, Lagos) and I used to be his fan. I supported his appointment as the CBN Governor and also spoke publicly in favour his controversial removal of the eight bank MDs. I was on Channels TV's live programme, Sunrise (with Chamberlain Usoh and Suleiman Aledeh as hosts), pushing his suitability for the post the day he appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing. I was also on Channels TV's live programme, Business Morning (with Boason Omofaye as the presenter at the time) defending his take-over of the eight banks and the sack of their MDs.

So what happened? Sanusi's imposition of his wrong-headed, illegal, unconstitutional, Malaysia-style Islamic Banking policy exposed him as an Islamist. I subsequently also became aware of his inglorious role in the infamous Kano religious riot which culminated in the beheading of Gideon Akaluka in 1996 and for which he was incarcerated for two years in Sokoto Prison by the government of Gen. Sani Abacha. This vital factual information is, understandable not disclosed in any of his profiles. The Senate was misled by late President Umaru Yar'adua (who ensured that this information was not highlighted in his Security Report) to confirm him as the CBN Governor. I have challenged Sanusi publicly to come clean on this issue or sue me if I have maligned him!

Moreover, his incompetence, profligacy (he now wants CBN to be sponsoring the Super Eagles!! LOL!!) and inane monetary policies have damaged the financial services sector and badly affected our nation's economy.

President Goodluck Jonathan should sack this guy before he does even more damage! It has now reached a crisis point. And the time to act is NOW!!

God bless Nigeria!

http://www.proshareng.com/news/18331/President-Jonathan-Should-Sack-Sanusi-Now

such a great write up. I never knew this man is this good!

The truth has been spoken. BH member at work at the Apex Bnk

@ Jarus, I think you are over rating your relevance besides the fact that some of us noticed your romance with Sanusi. I do not entirely agree with Dele's article, infact I think Dele is an hypocrite to say the least but then we need people (even with questionable characters) to talk some sense into that arrogant Emperor Sanusi.

What article have you written to project the opinion of the masses on the 5000 naira single note beyond your supposed phone discussion with him (Sanusi) which amounts to nonsense in my opinion.

Abeg Jarus, go sitdon for somewhere and make we hear word, you are nothing but an attention seeker

SLS is a controversial man but notwithstanding he has his good sides. No doubt he is arrogant and outspoken person. I have a lot against him and his policies but I admire him for some of his actions.
Mr.Momodu failed to tell us the so called brilliant bankers who were sacked by Sanusi. There were many collateral damages in the bid to sanitise the banks which to me was quite unfair and I felt more should have been done to save the innocent staff and the shareholders.
Most of the brilliant bankers were feeding fat on our shares and were being shown on Mr.Momodus ovation magazine as the role models with their jets,mansions,estates etc. They are role models to yahoo boys.
I believe Mr. Momodu was offended by SLS because his actions affected the ovation business-no patronage by the brilliant bankers and no more loans.
This is to me a beer and pepper soup joint journalism which may earn a 2nd year student of journalism a C but an F for a through bred journalist referencing wikipedia which could have been updated by a grade 12 student. You took lot of space as an historian to lecture on HIST112 History of Modern Nigeria and description of a bully. There was no new fact and an article of this nature coming out with typographically errors.I wont be surprised that the article came up as a result of need to meet deadline.
I am actually wary of our mighty columnists because most of them will perform worse than the people they are criticising. They may turn out to be the BADDEST BOYS and GIRLS.
Please let us not put sentiments in our write ups and always be construtive.

Nigerians are a people perpetually in search of new heroes. We are a people so confused about what we want, whether democracy or militocracy. Many years of debilitating military interventions and interregnum have turned us into victims of acute psychological impairment

Na here I for vex o, him just use style call all of us mad men

.

What a mesmerizing write-up. Dele momodu plays football with english language.

What a talent!

But Sanusi is a DIC-tator.

Jarus na wetin now....u and dele dey compete in EPISTLELOGY ni?
Ahn ahn...after reading that wonderfull piece by dele, you just appeared like say you they follow the guy on twitter with your already wriiten sermon...abeg reduce this your migrane-inducing sermon biko oga jarus

This fat man wey nor get house for Nigeria. . .and living in GHANA has come again?
Is Sanusi operating on his own. . .or IS HE WORKING WITH HIS MASTERS WHO MADE HIM THE GOVERNOR OF CBN?
Why is Jonathan not making a sound?
Where is 'Okonjo-Iweala'?

Nigerians and NAIRALANDERS can be so daft I swear!

superior1: @ Jarus, I think you are over rating your relevance besides the fact that some of us noticed your romance with Sanusi. I do not entirely agree with Dele's article, infact I think Dele is an hypocrite to say the least but then we need people (even with questionable characters) to talk some sense into that arrogant Emperor Sanusi.

What article have you written to project the opinion of the masses on the 5000 naira single note beyond your supposed phone call with him (Sanusi) which amounts to nonsense in my opinion.

Abeg Jarus, go sitdon for somewhere and make we hear word, you are nothing but an attention seeker

I can't say more than this.