Officials
of the State Security Service, SSS, have seized the travelling
documents of suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, shortly after he arrived Lagos from Niger, where he had
gone to attend a meeting of governors of central banks in the West
African sub-region.
Shortly after his plane landed at the ExecuJet Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, he was accosted by plain clothe operatives who detained him briefly and insisted he must surrender his passport.
They also insisted that he would not be allowed to leave the airport until the Lagos state director of the SSS arrives.
But
after a while, the operatives had a change of heart after communicating
with their superiors. The CBN governor was allowed to leave but only
after his passport was confiscated.
It was widely reported in the
media about plans to arrest Mr. Sanusi on his return to the country from
neighbouring Niger early thursday.
The governor was suspended in absentia, while attending a three-day meeting of the West African Central Bank Governors.
The embattled governor had himself became aware of the plan to arrest him, compelling him to change his travel plans.
He landed in Lagos instead of Abuja.
In
Lagos, Mr. Sanusi's associates and friends, led by a former Minister of
the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, were on hand to receive
him at the airport.
They drove out of the airport in a convoy
heading towards Ikoyi. A member of the delegation said Mr. Sanusi was
heading to a friend's place to relax.
Earlier today, the President
ordered the immediate suspension of Mr. Sanusi from office, saying his
tenure had been characterized by various acts of financial recklessness
and misconduct inconsistent with the administration's vision of a
Central Bank propelled by the core values of focused economic
management, prudence, transparency and financial discipline.
However,
many Nigerians believe the CBN governor was axed because he exposed the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as an harbinger of
corruption and financial mismanagement, diverting huge federal revenues
accruing to the nation from the sale of crude oil.
Mr. Sanusi says as much as $20 billion oil money is missing.
The
President, in a statement by Reuben Abati, his Special Adviser on Media
and Publicity, ordered the Central Bank governor to hand over to the
most senior Deputy Governor of the bank, Mrs. Alade who will serve as
Acting Governor until the conclusion of ongoing investigations into
alleged breaches of enabling laws, due process and mandate of the
Central Bank.
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