CBN Intervention In Banks
'Lamido Sanusi Should Stop Behaving Like Dictator'

Even from the tone of his voice, it was clear that Frederick Fasheun, founder of the Odu'a Peoples Congress was still very upset about the method used by Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi in reforming the nation's banking system. While many remained mute in the face of the gale that swept through the banks, Fasheun mounted a vociferous campaign in the media against the modus operandi adopted by the CBN helmsman. Fielding questions from ARMSFREE AJANAKU ONOMO, he explains why he is staunchly opposed to how Sanusi has gone about the task of repositioning the banks. Excerpts:

In the various publications your have put out on the ongoing reforms by the CBN, you didn't say much about the interest of depositors; what is your position on deposits who would have lost their monies had the banks been allowed to crash?
I said the banks and their services should not be disrupted, and that if their services were going to be disrupted, the shareholders must be consulted first. Those banks belong to the shareholders, the investors; if you are going to remove their chief executives, you must inform the shareholders because the shareholders put those directors there. You cannot come from nowhere like a dictator and just seize their properties and arrest and detain their executives unconstitutionally. I know the CBN governor commands enormous powers, but those powers require somebody that will be temperate with his sentiments, and somebody that is apolitical, who would not hurt the unity of the nation. Those powers require somebody who will put the interest of the shareholders in view. Here, the CBN governor came in, and instead of working to ensure that confidence was not eroded in these banks, he did otherwise. And he thought that his actions would only affect the banks, but his actions are now affecting the nation; the economy is prostrate. If Nigeria's economy was very strong, it would have accommodated the battering; but the economy is nothing to speak about; this is why I thought many things were happening to the economy through the actions of the CBN governor. I am not saying the Central Bank has no powers to regulate; I am not saying that, but I am saying that due process was not followed.

Knowing that some of the banks were said to be structured in ways that made individuals, especially the CEOs too powerful and domineering, how does your position protect the interest of the depositors, especially poor and ordinary people, whose monies the CBN governor said he was trying to protect?

He should have adopted due process to settle that crisis. His taking over the banks does not say that he was defending the interest of the common man; it doesn't. If anything, he has endangered the interest of the common man; who went into these banks and bought shares at maybe N44 for Union Bank; N33 for First Bank, and now, Union Bank shares have plummeted to about N6. How has he defended the interest of the common man on the streets; he has actually destroyed the common man whose retirement savings were put in these banks. We are saying that he shouldn't have thrown out the baby with the bathe water. He should have adopted due process and the rule of law to achieve what we want him to achieve. Nobody would say the chief executives were angels; we are not saying that because there are no angels in Nigeria.

He (Sanusi) was coming from First Bank; I hate the concept of 'holier than thou.' He came to the Central Bank from First Bank, and in just five months, he found faults with banks that had existed for decades, and like a bull in a china shop, he was destroying right, left and centre. I want Nigeria to be re-ordered, I want Nigeria to be governed under the rule of law, which we have been mouthing. It is governance under the rule of law that will make us attain democracy; but here is a Central Bank governor who commands enormous powers coming in and throwing his weight all over the place. As a matter of fact, a few days ago, I was astounded that this youngman has not been castigated by the government, when he said that if he had the powers, he would tie these bank executives to the stakes and shot them. For God's sake, what do you expect people to think of Nigeria outside our shores; if somebody who commands such enormous powers can say that he will tie bank chief executives to the stakes and shot them, Who is he? We thank God that he doesn't have those powers. Should he not be mild? It is a reflection of his mind; the Central Bank governor should have a settled mind. If Yar'Adua didn't have a settled mind, Nigeria would have been in problems.

Are we not in problems already?
We would have been in greater problems, but he (Yar'Adua) approaches his work with good sense; he has a good head, screwed well on his shoulders. Nigerians think the young man (Yar'Adua) is slow, but slow and steady wins the race.

In one of your advertorials you asserted that none of the affected banks failed to meet obligations to depositors; should the regulator have waited for a full blown crisis before intervening?
A few weeks before (Sanusi) Lamido's action, all of these banks submitted their reports to the Central Bank, and the CBN commended them; Intercontinental and Oceanic were commended and they were preparing to pay handsome dividends to shareholders; where is the evidence of depression? I think when you put a square peg in a round hole, you get into this kind of situation. Look, financial markets are by nature, fragile. So you don't bring in somebody who is intemperate and maniacal to manage such a place. Even then, have we seen any of these banks collapsing; despite all these infractions and abuse of human rights?

Nigerians want democracy, rule of law, and due process, but when people's rights are being abused, Nigerians keep quiet. Must they detain these bank executives beyond the constitutional time, which they may hold them before going to court? Many of them had their rights abused; let us be honest, we have not been told that any of them committed personal offences, it was implied. None of them has been accused of stealing from these banks; I am not justifying the bank executives in their professional actions, I am only a doctor, I am not a banker, but viewing from the sides, I think their rights were abused. And the Nigerian economy was shaken almost to its roots, and the shareholders were denied their rights, and they (shareholders) have lost a lot of money now, while the Nigerian economy is virtually collapsing as a result.

You talked about bank CEOs not being accused of personal crimes; how about the CBN's revelations that loans were given to friends and cronies who had no collateral or intention of paying back; were these not substantial abuses to warrant action from the apex bank?

I am saying that only those that are capable of throwing stones should take that kind of action. He (Sanusi) was a bank executive; can he beat his chest and say he can cast the first stone? He should be able to cast the first stone. That is why I am worried about actions that can hurt the unity of Nigeria. We are emerging from one crisis into another crisis, and people who are in positions of power are creating different war fronts for the nation, and yet Nigeria wants unity, progress, growth and development. The greatest ambition of Nigeria is to achieve peace and unity, and this is very very far from us. For the Nigerian people, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers; the common people, the shareholders, and the retirees are the people who are suffering, not the people in the National Assembly; those characters are very comfortable. They (MPs) don't need to invest in banks or buy shares, and when they do, their shares are in millions. It is the interest of the common man that should be paramount in whatever we do when we are in positions of power. If any of the chief executive has been found to have violated the law of the land, he or she must be made to face the music, but that music must be played with due process. We are now saying we thank God that the judiciary is finding its feet, and at the same time, we detain people beyond the constitutional stipulated time. Those leaders who mislead us and hurt our unity must be called to order.

You seem to see the CBN's action on Unity Bank as a mere slap on the wrist; the apex bank argues that the bank does not have the same corporate governance issues, which the others whose CEOs were sacked had; what is the basis for your position?

Unity Bank had been given N70 billion prior to all these crisis, and nobody heard anything about that, and nobody maligned Unity Bank as a result of that under-the-table loan. Please, don't get me wrong, I am not saying the CBN lacks the powers to regulate the banking industry, it does. But it must regulate with the rule of law and due process. We have been told various stories by the CBN governor about corporate governance, lack of liquidity, and so on. But for God's sake, some of these executives were the pride of the Nigerian banking industry, they were advisers to various world bodies in the financial sector. If anyone thinks some of our best bank executives are criminals, you are telling the whole world that Nigerians are criminals. If the best of us are criminals, then we have no claim to righteousness, and we know it is not right.

Papa Ola Vincent commented on the situation, and if anybody has a right to comment on the banking crisis, nobody has as much right as Papa Ola Vincent, who served this nation meritoriously in the banking industry. During his time, there was no crisis, and he sustained the beauty of the Nigerian economy; why wouldn't people who came after him learn from his method. Was it that all the banks during the tenure of Papa Ola Vincent were buoyant, and there was no crisis? He (Sanusi) based his action on the audit report; fairness, rule of law and due process would expect that after auditing these banks, he should have called the Directors and tender the audit report before them, so that the chief executives can defend the report, but he didn't do that; he just went for them. Does he have power of arrest; does he have power to detain Nigerians? Does he have powers to offer Nigerian banks to foreigners; does he have powers to disregard the wishes of the shareholders? These are questions Nigerians should ask him; I have nothing against him, what I am against is his method. And it can happen to anybody; if you take over banks created by private individuals because you are a powerful CBN governor, Nigerians who have money will be frightened of going into that sector of our economy because some CBN governor will come and take over the banks they have sweated for, and just offer them to Indians and South-Africans. We have not started seeing the effects of his actions; which are buried in the bowels of the future. And of course, Nigerian leaders come, they perform their nefarious services to the nation, and they get away. That is why leadership in this country is a rare commodity because we do not sanction poor performance; we do not complain about poor performance of those in office. Somebody who is the head of the Central Bank should be apolitical, or at best mild.

Talking about the enormous powers of the CBN helmsman and how those powers are exercised, shouldn't we be blaming the National Assembly for passing a CBN Act that provides such sweeping powers? Sanusi actually used the CBN Act to justify his decision to give N420billion as bailout to the first five banks, saying his action was lawful.

That was unconstitutional my dear friend. What is lawful about that? Anything that is unconstitutional cannot be lawful. Now, a youngman came into our Central Bank and in three months, he prints N420 billion; do you know the effects of that on the economy. He printed N420 billion without mentioning it to the National Assembly, what type of lawfulness is that? He printed N420 billion, and to the first five banks he indicted, he distributed only N100 billion amongst them. I then ask the question: what happened to the rest of the money? Was he waiting to distribute the rest of the money to banks that would fail? He had prophesied that Nigerian banks are prone to failure; so it was like he was saying 'these banks will fail, so let me keep the remaining N320billion to give to those who are sure to fail.' When you are working to the answer, which you already know, it is very easy to ask questions. I don't think that that huge sum of money should be pushed into our economy like that; that money is not related to any form of productivity, should it not be related to productivity. So, what would happen to inflation; it will spiral. I know the CBN has its own board, but obviously, the board has been intimidated out of action, and all of them (board members) would be guilty in history, if they don't speak up now. Let us know where they stand; or is he the only one constituting the board of the CBN? No, but to leave him behaving like a bull in a china shop, is untenable, and does not portend good for the future of the economy, and the unity of the country. Before I started the main body of my criticism, I gave his background, so that Nigerians would know. A CBN governor speaking from the hill, whose thoughts and words are cascading down the hill to those in the plain. A CBN governor who thinks the Yoruba people, especially their politicians were behaving like area boys, not like statesmen. A CBN governor who thought that (former President Ibrahim Badamasi) Babangida was a person of lower culture, Babangida of all people. It is only Lamido Sanusi that can make that comment. Much as we disagree with what Babangida did to us, not many of us think, or agree with Lamido Sanusi that Babangida is a person of lower culture.

You just described Yar'Adua as a more temperate leader; from what you are saying, does it mean he did not really know Lamido Sanusi before appointing him CBN governor?
I have said it several times that this young man Yar'Adua, good as he is personally, is governing this country with impunity, I have said it several times. I have had occasions to write to him (the President); when he came to the Presidency, he chose a Secretary to the Federal Government. That was a man known to have injured the sensibilities of a big section of this nation. I personally called his attention to that, that he should not hurt our sensibilities, and he did nothing about it until the man showed him his spots. So he acted after personal experience. When he came in and the Niger-Delta problem started festering, we called his attention to it, and we said; 'look, we have been to the creeks.' As a member of the Coalition of Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, I knew what was going on. I wanted him to have a benefit of my experience, and nobody listened, until a civil war was breaking out, and we now started talking about amnesty, a paradoxical term because you only grant amnesty to people you have conquered. But we are all interested in peace, so whether amnesty is true in meaning or not, let us agree it is going to bring peace to this nation. And when some committees were also set up for the Niger-Delta, we also drew his attention to his appointment of people who had made snarling comments on the Niger-Delta, he appointed (Ibrahim) Gambari to head that committee, and of course, we told him that was wrong. It was until those guys started blowing up various places that he change the appointment. When he appointed the then Minister of Finance from Kano, we gave him ovation, because Shamshudeen Usman is a decent youngman. But when he appointed the Economic Adviser and the Governor of the CBN from the same Kano, of course we had to complain. Our constitution talks about Federal Character, but he didn't bother about our complaint; maybe he didn't even read our letters. And then he appointed (Rilwan) Lukman who had been serving in the NNPC for his whole life, and after all, Lukeman was not from the Niger-Delta; he needed to appease the Niger-Delta, he didn't do that. Lukeman was Minister of Petroleum Resources, and then he appointed another man, a Yar'Adua (Abubakar) to be MD of NNPC, and we called his attention to it, in black and white, and he didn't bother. That is what I call governing with impunity, not reading through our constitution. It is just that Nigeria is a very resilient country, with everybody running after his daily bread, so we have no time to think of all these impunities. Otherwise, people would have been challenging this youngman left, right and centre. But he is a lucky man, and as a person, he is a gentleman, however, he has surrounded himself with these hawks who are misguiding him. Did he recommend the detention, without authority, of the bank CEOs? He couldn't have done that, and I remember that he succinctly called for order. Being a mild President of a nation in a state of flux, he called for order and good sense. People should govern with good sense; they should realise that Nigeria is not a nation, Nigeria is a conglomeration of nations. We were (forcefully) brought together; some nationalities did not even sign treaties. That is why we have been agitating that the togetherness of Nigeria is desirable; but it must be worked for. Now, we are just taking things for granted; Nigeria is not a constitutional thing, it is geographical expression, like Chief Obafemi Awolowo said. And even Sir Ahmadu Bello himself said it. Most of all these problems facing Nigeria can only be settled at a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), but unfortunately, despite agitations since 1992, the powers that be have refused to allow an SNC because they are frightened that an SNC may splinter Nigeria. Far from it, it is the other way round; an SNC will only strengthen and unify Nigeria.

In this campaign against what the CBN governor is doing, what is your motivation, and who is funding it; are there organizations giving you support to do what you are doing?
If anybody knows any organisation backing me up, he should speak up. I crusade for social justice, and I don't care how much it costs me, when I can no longer afford it, I stop. When I could afford it, I spoke. When I could no longer afford it, despite the fact that I still had facts, I kept quiet. When I founded the OPC, people thought I had taken money from somewhere, but now people know that I did not take money from anywhere. I founded the Movement for Social and Economic Justice, and people thought I must have been accumulating dollars from foreign countries, but now, people know that I didn't take a dime. When I created a few things for the OPC, people thought it was the Yoruba governors, and I am telling you, no Yoruba governor has given us a Naira. When you are crusading for social justice, you don't care about how much pain you go through, and that is me. Nobody has been funding me, and if anybody says he has been funding me, he should come to the media to announce when, how, and what he did to fund me. I assure you that nobody has been funding me. You media people should have a dossier on me by now! Not even internally; I don't take a kobo from anybody internally, let alone externally, and I am very proud to say that. I am not a rich man, but I am not uncomfortable. I am only uncomfortable with people who are hostile to social justice. Let us all crusade for social justice, so that Nigeria will be a happy place for all of us.

What is your take on the controversy over deregulation?
If indeed there was a democratic government in Nigeria, it should listen to the people. Democracy is the wish of the majority, no matter how wrong-headed; where you don't listen to the wishes of the majority, you are working against the interest of democracy, and that is dictatorship and authoritarianism. I think that government should listen to the people.

Moving towards 2011, and with the pace of electoral reforms not so encouraging, how do you see the future of Nigeria?
I am worried about 2011, I hope and pray that the people in power would change their hearts of iron, so that Nigerians can go into the elections in peace. If that election results in crisis, we will have ourselves to blame because a former Chief Justice of this nation has made recommendations on how to conduct our reformed election. And that is one of the reasons why I said that Yar'Adua is governing with impunity; instead of subjecting the recommendations of Uwais to a plebiscite, he single-handedly edited it. I don't think that is good for this nation. He should have allowed Nigerians to debate the recommendations of the Uwais committee. Through the snippets we have read in the papers, we think the main recommendations must be a beauty. It should be released to the generality of the people; that document belongs to Nigerians, and it should be made available to Nigerians to criticize. That is the danger of an almost one party system, the PDP has become so gigantic that it can do what it wants, without fear or favour from anywhere. And unfortunately, the progressives have scattered themselves into various progressive groups. They cannot find themselves as progressives in a progressive party? They have splintered into various "progressive" parties. It is very unfortunate, but that is what you get when you are running a wrong party system.



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