Sanusi's appointment was a "huge mistake" - Pat Utomi

Professor Pat Utomi

CC News

As controversy rages over the suspension of Nigeria's Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido, a renowned economist, Professor Pat Utomi has berated the tenure of Lamido as a Central Bank Governor, describing his original appointment as “a huge mistake”

Reacting to the suspension of the controversial apex bank chief in a chat in Abuja, the Director of Lagos Business School, said Sanusi should never have been appointed as a Central Bank Governor in the first place, declaring “it should not have happened”

Utomi joined two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana and Chief Mike Ozhekome who had issued legal positions on the suspension of the apex bank chief. While Falana blamed Sanusi for not resigning when so directed by President Goodluck Jonathan, Ozhekome cited alleged infringements of extant rules to justify Sanusi’s suspension.

Utomi, however, faulted the nomination and appointment of Sanusi five years ago on the ground that the suspended bank chief lacked certain qualities of a Central Bank Governor

Utomi said: “It should not have happened. Sanusi’s appointment was ill-advised in the first place. He was not suitable for the job. Apex Bank leaders all over the World are men of great discretion in actions, pronouncements and deeds.”

One can't however help but wonder exactly what Pat Utomi's agenda is on this matter. For the record, Sanusi is one of the most respected bankers in the world (not just Nigeria or Africa) and his antecedents speak to a proclivity for being upstanding and forthright, one might say, to a fault.

That Pat Utomi, who on his part, has always attempted to play the role of the "ultimate citizen of conscience", to have kept quiet about recent issues of impropriety that have dogged Jonathan's presidency and now claim the moral imperative on a senseless act of executive over-reach by the president, is quite troubling.

One can only hope that Professor Utomi is not trying to curry favors from a corrupt administration by taking a shameless dig at Sanusi, that may not be unconnected to the PHB Bank N27 billion ($164.2 million) fraud case brought against his (Utomi's) close friend, former Managing Director, Francis Atuche. 

Politics and in this case, avaricious greed, sure do make strange bedfellows.