Constitutional lawyer and Human Rights Activist, Chief Mike Ozehome has described the suspension of Mallam Lamido Sanusi as coming too late, arguing it should also have been one of outright sack or dismissal.

In an eight page legal opinion made available to newsmen, the legal luminary said Sanusi did not fare well in the area of calm conduct, sober carriage and the magisterial disposition expected of his office, accusing the banker of conducting himself “more like a proud, arrogant and boastful politician, an unrepentant pseudo activist and a social critic even of his own Central Bank policies, aside the economy of Nigeria that he gleefully tears to shreds and tatters.

“Have you ever heard of the Director of the American Federal Reserve Bank, Janet I. Yellen, making inciting and provocative statements against her appointor, President Barrack Obama, or against the Treasury Secretary or the 31st Governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, or the Governor of the Central Banks of England, Mr. Mark Carney, making statements against their governments?”, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said.

“Have you heard of the Governors or Central Banks of Australia, Ghana, Hong Kong France, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, or South Africa open castigating their Government?”, he asked, adding that “Sanusi’s proud, highfalutin carriage, strutting about in flowing garments with a heavy turban, like an Emir, that we hear he aspires to be, even when the incumbent Emir of Kano emirate, Alhaji Ado Bayero that he hopes to succeed, is very much alive, hale and hearty.

“His soap box speeches and theatrics, has rampant strident condemnation of a government he forms part of, and his overt contempt and disdain for his appointor, the President, did not accord his office the dignity, sobriety and calmness it deserves”, Ozhekome said.

He affirmed that “a Central Bank Governor is to be seen and rarely heard, if ever, except only on crucial financial, monetary and economic matters, where his public intervention is called for, with a view to strengthening the economy and increasing investors’ confidence in the economy of that country.  Sanusi has played the exact opposite role.

He has helped, incrementally and installmentally. to damage, if not destroy, the very fabric of confidence in the very economy he is supposed to jealously protect”, he said.  He accused the banker of going about making “outrageous donations in billions of naira to universities and other social causes, clearly outside the primary mandate of the Central Bank.  The worst thing about these donations is that they were never budged for, nor approved by the National Assembly.  He carried on like Emperor Louis IV of France, of the “l’etat ce moi” (I am the state) fame.  “He did not appear to be a team player, but a lone ranger, a loose canon, operating alone and individually.  Has Sanusi ever heard of the Doctrine of collective responsibility, or Ministerial responsibility?  Did it occur to Sanusi that the success or failure of the Jonathan Government whose monetary policies he headed and superintended over, was also his success or failure?”, the social activist asked.

“In a decent society, Sanusi would have resigned immediately he discovered he haboured fundamental disagreement and irreconcilable difference with the government he serves.  But he selfishly held on to his position, neither relinquishing it, nor conforming with it.  Sanusi approbated and reprobate simultaneously, on many issues, blowing hot and cold at the same time”, Ozhekome alleged.

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