Chairman of the Stanbic IBTC, Atedo N A Peterside is the first bank
chairman to speak publicly on the suspension of Central Bank Governor,
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. In a statement made available to MARCEL
MBAMALU, he called for urgent forensic audit of the accounts of the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as satisfactory
answers on the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) queries regarding the
apex bank’s 2012 accounts:
“I don’t know if anything is true or false. What I do know is that in
a Presidential system, various aides and pressure groups try and pull
the President towards the direction that they believe is best. Is that
not why they even have lobbyists in Washington DC?
One does not have to jump on the rooftops and sound populist every
time in order to be branded “patriotic”. Some times the true patriots
are those who apply pressure where it matters most – and some times on
some issues, that might be in private.
The facts of the matter are clear and are all now in the public domain and I list some of them sequentially:-
1) On 07 June 2013, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC)
wrote to the President. This was a damning and vitriolic attack where
words like “fraud” and “misrepresentation” were used freely. They also
recommended that strong action be taken against the CBN Governor and ALL
the Deputy Governors. FRC attacked an entire institution (CBN) + its
Board with reference to CBN’s 2012 accounts. Please note that the 07
June 2013 letter was issued by FRC in response to CBN’s earlier response
to its query;
2) About three months later, CBN writes to Mr. President drawing
attention to revenue shortfalls and NNPC’s failure to credit the
Federation Account with all the monies that it was supposed to. If there
is a shortfall, then there is a problem. Whether it is N49bn, N10bn or
N20bn is not the issue. Even N1bn is a serious problem;
3) Item 2) above later becomes public knowledge before item 1), but
both allegations subsist. They were always both going to end up in the
public space in whatever order because there are no secrets in Nigeria;
4) Like CBN did when queried by FRC, NNPC came up with supposed
explanations of where the money went. NOI and others called for a
forensic audit to determine whether NNPC’s claims/explanations can
withstand proper scrutiny;
5) Last week, Mr. President suspends CBN Governor citing Item 1) above;
6) Conspiracy theorists have been at work from the first day. FRC has
given some of us, who are on the boards of companies that publish
financial statements, sleepless nights because we are forced to comply
with their cumbersome dictates. We have no choice because they are
empowered by law as some kind of financial watchdog. FRC was also
clearly giving CBN “hell”. Why were they “after CBN”? Conspiracy
theorists have the “answers”. I don’t. Some Conspiracy theorists argue
that the CBN Governor was suspended because he blew the whistle on NNPC,
while others argue that CBN only blew the whistle on NNPC in order to
distract attention from their own travails with FRC.
I do not care about conspiracy theorists. At the end of the day, two things must happen:-
A) NNPC’s assertions must be subjected to a proper forensic audit; and
B) CBN must provide satisfactory answers to FRC’s queries.
If CBN does (B) above successfully, then they (FRC) must be made to
tender a public apology to CBN and it’s Board and “heads must roll” in
FRC and the Governor should be recalled from suspension. That he said
publicly that he would not go back is irrelevant.
If NNPC “fails” its forensic audit, then all relevant heads around there must also roll.
That is my position in private and in public.
I felt “liberated” to make this comment because the President has now
named his nominee to replace Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi at the end
of his tenure.
Accordingly, people can no longer say:- “Atedo is saying all this because he wants to be CBN Governor”.
I speak because I want my country to improve.
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