A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has likened the state of affairs under erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan to what obtained in Uganda between 1971 and 1979, when Idi Amin Dada ruled the east African country with an iron clad fist.
Soludo who was CBN Governor between 2004 and 2009, said the revelations from the Dasuki arms scandal points to how Jonathan manipulated the CBN to serve his own political needs.
In a chat with The Interview magazine, Soludo described the CBN as “the ATM of the Presidency,” under Jonathan.
He said it was regrettable that in spite of the bank’s statutory independence, it continued to be a victim of high wire politics, often “electrocuting” its leadership.
Said Soludo: “Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ and the apparent abuse of the CBN as an ATM by the Presidency should get reasonable people thinking.
“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.”
Incumbent CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele had admitted to disbursing huge sums to former NSA Sambo Dasuki on the instructions of the then Commander-In-Chief, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
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