‘Jonathan Surrounded By Fraudulent Aides’

Suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi yesterday described President Goodluck Jonathan as a simple man trying to do well, who has been undermined by incompetent and fraudulent aides.
In an interview in Lagos, Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly or honestly about the extent of corruption in government.
“When you sit with President Jonathan himself he appears a nice simple person who is trying his best to do his best,” Sanusi said. His greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts”, he said.
Sanusi learned of his removal from office while in Niger on Thursday and immediately returned to Lagos, where agents from the Directorate of State Services (DSS) seized his passport.
On Friday, he secured a temporary protective order from the Federal High Court in Lagos barring Nigerian intelligence agents from the DSS or police from arresting him.
While no charges have been filed against him, Sanusi said he was prepared for whatever attacks may come.
“That we are here today means that I have taken the decision that I will face the consequences of whatever I do,” he said.
He said his “fierce independence” had been an annoyance to the government since 2009, culminating with his sustained, public attack on the NNPC, widely seen as the epicentre of corruption in Africa’s top oil producer.
“If I am sacrificed in whatever way, my freedom or my life… if it does lead to better accountability it will be well worth it,” he said

L-R: A member of Historical Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ebiegberi Alagoa, President Goodluck Jonathan, other members, Prof. Abdullahi Mahali and Prof. Obaro Ikime, after presentation of a plaque to the President, during their visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja last Thursday