EMBATTLED Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was suspended from office last Thursday by President Goodluck Jonathan, said yesterday, that the president's greatest failing was that he is "surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts".
Mallam Sanusi, who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP), on a day the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress traded tackles on the propriety of suspending him, appeared resolute in his allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, declaring that, "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".
In an interview with AFP in Lagos, Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly about the extent of corruption in government.

He said: "When you sit with President Jonathan himself, he appears a nice, simple person, who is trying his best to do his best. However, his greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts."
The former CBN governor, who learnt of his removal while he was attending a regional meeting of CBN governors in Niger Republic, immediately returned to the country and had his passport seized by the Directorate of State Services, DSS. Last Friday, he secured a temporary order from the Federal High Court, Lagos barring the DSS or the police from arresting him.
Speaking on the seizure of his passport, Sanusi said: "I thought taking away my passport was the beginning of infringement on my fundamental human rights,"explaining that he had already sought court protection over it.
Regarding the allegations against him, Sanusi said he had earlier this year heard of a report condemning his performance and wrote to President Jonathan in "June or July" asking if an explanation was needed, but that he received no reply. According to him, the "first time I was formally notified about the allegations was the day I was suspended", arguing that it would be too simple to describe his removal as payback for his attacks on the NNPC.
He further said: "Since 2009, I have been annoying the government. You've got people who think I have the wrong friends, people who think maybe I have not distanced myself enough from people who are seen to be opposition figures"

He knows that nothing will happen that was why he took that action. So, I think the preachers should begin to preach what we call the liberation theology. You (church leaders) are supposed to have more responsibilities to hold government accountable," Amaechi said.
Sanusi's removal a bad signal--Tambuwal
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, in his reaction to Sanusi's removal described the development as a bad signal. Speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta after holding a private discussion with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Tambuwal said, "whether it is lawful, legal or illegal, the personality involved has told everybody that he is going to court and I believe he is already in court on that suspension.
"On the implications for the economy, I am not an economist, but I personally feel that, it will definitely send wrong signals to investors because we need to have confidence in the financial institutions particularly the independence of financial institutions of a country before foreign investors may consider such a country worthy of their investments, I have my concern about that"