A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo, has accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of running the apex bank the way former Ugandan President, Idi Amin, ran his country.
Amin ruled Uganda from January 25, 1971 to April 11, 1979 and was noted for self-aggrandising eccentricities and taste for excesses.
Speaking with The Interview magazine, Soludo, who contested the 2010 Anambra State governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said it was regrettable that in spite of the apex bank’s statutory independence, it continues to be a victim of high-wire politics, often “electrocuting” it leadership.
According to him, “imagine a scenario where a president can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3 trillion, and doles it out cash to the Presidency 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 central bank.
“Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ (revelations involving former NSA Sambo Dasuki on $2.1 billion arms scam) and the apparent abuse of the CBN as ATM by the presidency should get reasonable people thinking.”
