Amaechi And The Infamous Letter To Jonathan: Hearing What Sanusi Did Not Say? -By Ifeanyi Izeze

Mischief, a major preoccupation of the human mind, keeps getting perfected in this country every day by those who take politics as their only job including those already ruling, those desperate to rule, and those whose hope of ruling seems to be fast blazing out. Both Lamido Sanusi Lamido and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi share certain attributes in common and this makes them unique in a funny way. First, they are both former governors, though they ruled over two different kinds of constituencies. Secondly, both men perform better in controversies- their ingenuity and visibility are enhanced in controversial situations if not how do you explain that the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could for whatever reasons come out at this time to say that “My letter to Jonathan on ‘missing $20bn’ was leaked by Amaechi knowing the implications of such statement?”

The question we should ask is: what is the real meaning of all of this? If the immediate past governor of Rivers State and now Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi surreptitiously and clandestinely ‘leaked’ a letter written by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammad 11 to then President Goodluck Jonathan on the non-remittance of $49.8 billion from oil sale to the federation account, why is this coming out now and how is this more important than all the pressing issues even those in Kano that the present government has been grappling to solve including the fractures in the ruling political structures? What means is this accusation going to serve us now as a nation?

There was never a time Sanusi ever pretended to be Amaechi’s very good pal. Though at a point in their individual quest to grab political power, it was convenient for both men to get along on nothing more than “the enemy of my enemy has to be my friend” pedestal. Anyone who has followed these two people for a long time would have established that once in a while, there is something that manifests between them that could rightly be described as ‘fetish disdain.’

If Sanusi strongly believed his ‘patriotic’ letter to Jonathan was for the best interest of the country, what makes him conclude Amaechi released it to the public out of mischief rather than also for the same best interest of Nigeria? You see the deceit?

Sanusi did the letter because as said, he could no longer keep quiet and watch Nigeria being robbed to its bones. Also Amaechi did what he did because he believed that the theft and corruption was just too much. He was propelled just as Sanusi by his patriotic zeal to put Nigeria first, do what is in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians, and stop the bleeding and sucking of our collective resources by a tiny few. So with percieved similar zeal and good- intent, how could one person’s action be hailed as patriotic while the other person’s branded as mischievous and treacherous?

The response  to Sanusi’s accusation from Amaechi’s media office though tried to explain how the ‘patriotic letter’ to the president got to the former Rivers state governor and ultimately released to the public, actually displayed gross oblivion of the “spirit and intent” of the former CBN governor’s  accusation coming just at this time.

As said by the statement from Amaechi’s media aide, “Considering that the letter was given to Amaechi as Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, he shared the letter with his colleague governors first, and with Senator Bukola Saraki(now Senate President), who before and around that period was doing some work or/and investigation around the oil sector in the Senate.”

Now, almost all the people that participated in the clandestine release of the infamous letter are today on the opposite sides of politics with Amaechi even those in the same party with him. So can we rule out a hidden agenda in this obvious smear campaign!

Let’s even look at it, according to Sanusi, “I said to them, gentlemen, I’m coming to you because I just had a meeting with the president, and there were no witnesses, and the president had threatened me.”

This was a private meeting with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and was meant to be confidential or even top secret and yet on leaving the meeting, the first thing that the former CBN governor did was to disclose the discussion at the meeting to the first person he met. You don’t disclose private conversation with the president just like that. It makes you unreliable, treacherous and even a security risk. And this is what this Sanusi’s disclosure coming at this time against one of the president’s favoured ministers sets to achieve- to publicly paint Amaechi as treacherous, untrustworthy and above all, a security risk! This assertion may be wrong but only time would tell.

To say that the former CBN governor has continued to hold Amaechi in disdain is an understatement. Tragically though, Amaechi himself has not been very wise in choosing his political allies. How could Chibuike pretend to forget so easily? It was this same Sanusi as CBN governor and special guest to Amaechi’s Rivers State government at a gala night that was chaired by Governor Amaechi as part of discussion sessions lined up for a 3-day Rivers State investors’ forum which held at the Government House in Port Harcourt in November 2011 that tried to rubbish whatever Amaechi called the entire investing world to see, celebrate and key -into in Rivers state.

This was what Sanusi after eating Amaechi’s dinner said at that event: “We have to recognize that it is not easy to think of Nigerian states today as having one difficulty. While one state seems to have a problem with too much money, other states have problems with too little money. So before we go out praising governor Amaechi for all what he had done, you need to know how much money Rivers State has been getting compared to other parts of the country. And Governor Amaechi, I have the facts here. And I hope the people of Rivers are going to watch you (looking at Amaechi) for the next four years. I am going to tell them how much money they have gotten so that they can ask questions. I did some analysis of the money that was gotten and was distributed. This does not add the excess oil governor Amaechi is getting from Akwa Ibom.” This was another ‘patriotic’ stance abi? Abeg make all of una go sit down!

IFEANYI IZEZE lives in Abuja and can be reached at: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009