TVC E, POLITICS – Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, says ex-president Goodluck Jonathan converted the apex bank into an Automated Teller Machine for the presidency during his administration.
In an interview in the current business edition of ‘The Interview’, Soludo said the CBN was a victim of high wire politics, often “electrocuting” its leadership under the Jonathan presidency.
“Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ (short for the $2.1bn scandal involving the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki) and the apparent abuse of the CBN as an ATM by the Presidency should get reasonable people thinking,” Soludo said.
He added: “Imagine a scenario where a President can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and the CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3tn, and doles it out as cash to the President to prosecute an election campaign, or for just about anything he fancies. It is a scary thought.
“We are going down a dangerous path that ruins the economy. I don’t know any other country where such is tolerated, except perhaps what I watched in a movie about Idi Amin and his governor of the central bank.”
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