The Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II in a recent interview with Forbes Africa said the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi leaked the letter he{Sanusi} wrote on the non-remittance of $49.8 billion by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) during the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration. Amaechi has however said the role he played was for the good of the country.
In a press statement issued by Amaechi’s media office, it stated in parts that: “Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media that tends to infer and/ or suggest that 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.
“This is further from the truth and what exactly transpired as regards Amaechi’s involvement in that Sanusi letter. Like Amaechi, we should appreciate that concerned Nigerian’s patriotism. Sanusi confirmed to Amaechi that he wrote the letter. During their conversation, Amaechi made it abundantly clear to the then CBN governor that the bleeding of the nation had to be stopped, all non-remitted funds remitted, and that he (Amaechi) was going to use the letter to do whatever is in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians, which was the stoppage of the non-remittance and the recovery of all the non-remitted funds from oil sale.
“Around that period, a delegation from the United States of America government, from the offices of the Secretaries of State and Defence visited Amaechi in Port Harcourt to discuss the issue of oil theft in Nigeria. From their records, they gave Amaechi figures of billions of dollars (about $7 billion dollars, annually) that was being lost to oil theft in Nigeria. They were discussing the issue and figures of oil theft, and that was how the CBN governor’s letter to President Jonathan came up. In the presence of journalists covering the visit, Amaechi was said to have shoned Sanusi’s letter to the visiting American delegation to buttress the point that Nigeria was losing far more money to non-remittance of proceeds from oil sale into the federation account, which “everyone seemed to concur, was in itself, another form and another dimension to the issue of oil theft.
“Amaechi did what he did because he believed that the theft and corruption was just too much. He was propelled 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. The mind-boggling corruption revelations in the recent past, that is still ongoing, clearly justifies and vindicates Amaechi’s stance on the issue and the actions he took. Faced with the same situation, under similar circumstances, Amaechi will not act differently. The good of Nigeria, putting the nation and Nigerians first, will always be his guiding principle.”
