A Reaction to Tunde Fagbenle on His view on Sanusi Lamido (X) by Iroabuchi Onwuka

By
Sampson Iroabuchi Onwuka

....Tunde Fagbele said that

“Some had private planes ggrandi those owned by some of the world’s richest persons. Some of these CEOs were worth trillions of naira; some were as rich as some state governments! It made Lamido believe that only the gallows was good enough for anyone who could be so perverse”.

Such prolix indignation, such callow ruminative on Nigerian banking, as if we shy from a halitosis of the others who the author may only met.

If this author, Tunde Fagbenle, had known that Sanusi is in all respect an Islamic Banker, he would have put on a break before his indictment. For Muslims “corruption is a White man phenomenon” and Christians are not entirely worthy. Christianity, to certain Sufi brotherhood of Islam is the Cavalcade that parries the goons. These Christians of the East in spite of the starving death of the Nigerian civil war era are the current patios for recklessness, not entitled to anything and are met with double standard which they are no pretenses in the above paragraph. The author Fagbenle, seems as if these CEOs went into the money houses and began to offload money in trucks. If the author had known that Muslims from Northern Nigeria and some from Christian West had emptied the very coffins of Nigeria to negative 30 billion before Soludo and company, perhaps he would been more careful on so discrediting a barrage. If the author had known that the man who changed the money printing house in Nigeria was this Soludo and his Christian others, perhaps he would avoided to place so lame a mock on these bankers…assuming his insinuations fly-escapade are not insinuation. These couldn’t have done anymore than cast humorous on ‘the envy’ of just about anyone who is not part of them.

“But the horrors that Lamido Sanusi discovered was not merely one of aggrandizement and self-enrichment, no, it was one that threatened the very fabric of the banking system. The level of exposure of some of the banks to margin loans and the oil and gas sector had rendered them almost insolvent and their capacity to continue as viable concerns very doubtful”

If only Mr Fagbenle could stop, for we are supposed to participate in such moral obesity because the judgment is based on something as substance as air. He is concerned about his goodness and all of a sudden concerned about Banking. If there is chronology of speech, the deciding lines somewhat disappoint. How can a man make magic an outcome of Nigerian banks which was no more than what it was, a part of the larger wheels. How can we decide to make rain and then turn around and say the rain is fell on those people makes them guilty.

Advance psychology of money is one that compels us to try our hands with the mindset of Sanusi, the CBN Chair. From enhanced understanding of Islamic banking system, Sanusi the man in question, in many ways a Muslim banker may not have wondered at the ruins of his actions. For how could he have? Yet we can say that it is not necessary to rehearse the fact that bankers without Islamic foundation in 2008 financial debacle were ultimately labeled corrupt. It is also wrong to have only indicated that the likes of Cecilia Ibru for her sins whatever they were is taken as exemplary when there was in the main.

The poverty of the North was even, all Sanusi is wont at achieving was compels from others to shield him from obvious political daggers, for by acting in sluices of The oil issue the author is referring to has very little logical back ground. For one thing, the man in charge of ruining much of the little wealth we obtained from oil until 2008 was no other than

But this is not about Soludo. It is about Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and one year of him as the Governor of CBN.

Lamido Sanusi came upon the scene literally on a white charger, fuming with righteous indignation. Rightly so. Unlike his predecessor who was plucked from the academia, completely green in practical banking, SLS combines both intellectualism and practical knowledge of banking, especially of risk management. Before becoming the governor of CBN he already knew half of the shenanigans going on in the banking industry and he was unimpressed by the affluence being flaunted by his colleagues in the banks. As CEO of First Bank, brief as it was, he felt even affronted by the vain and inglorious display of materialism and mediocrity by some of his peers. Then fate worked in his favour and he became governor of CBN overnight.

It is often intent of producing a class of people who use the religions as bait to perpetuate such class, a class that has no merit even in Islamic society. Of course it is little wonder that late Yar’duwa, Lukman Rilwanu former oil minister, Sanusi and his family, are part of this new attempt at producing a class of Muslims leaders who fester to the Nigerian oil and then banks.

“But is Lamido Sanusi the messiah he wants us to believe he is? He has made enemies for himself, powerful enemies. Those billionaires, nay trillionaires, he has ridiculed and de-robed are unforgiving. Those with vested interest in the banks he has dealt with are up in arms to get back at him”.

“But one year on, Sanusi has earned the respect and trust of the international banking publics. None of his critics have so far been able to unearth any misdemeanour or professional misconduct against him in his banking career. His indignation is righteous then, even if frightfully unmeasured”.

So far he has ruined Nigerian International reputation in Banking given the unorthodox style of execution. It is not the acclaim that he receives from his cheer leaders that is important but on how he is to be perceived from elsewhere. Sanusi may be seen as a man of action by his group, but in terms of what he is faced to accomplish, he has in many ways left several victims. Needless to point out that his victims do not include members of the Shariah Advisory Committee. His victims include those who in times past may have also suffered the intolerance of others. When we look at Banking as a feeder for the country, we understand why Sanusi was citing a case for North that was so supposedly neglected but the poverty of the North is more like the problem of one group controlling many of the wealth and those who rely on them feed around them and sometimes do nothing. They are very certain that if it goes bad someone will use the diversionary means employed by Sanusi to strip certain others of their hard earned largesse and they call ‘them’ corrupted while envy will silence the most obdurate of them all.

“There are new and qualitative policies being introduced by Sanusi’s CBN to bring sanity and stability to the banking industry and growth to the real economy. Effective debt recovery measures have been introduced in the banks, and they are now mandated to make full disclosures in their reports just as harmonisation of their accounting period is prescribed”.

The 13 point policy introduced in banking was not Sanusi’s invention rather Soludo’s, the 400 possible changes that can take in banking in Nigeria was partly pioneered by Soludo. Nigerian hedging technology is point and forward on the Spot which Koran opposes under Sanusi. I million over the counter depository was prohibited by Soludo. Modern Nigerian banking through electronic system was fully initiated by Soludo. The stress and transparency test for TBF banks was begun by Soludo. The stress was in its preliminary stages before his removal from office. The eFass was introduced by Soludo to gauge perform grade of many Nigerian financial institution, and the currency was changed under Soludo and the State of the Art money printing house which helped the Comptroller of Currency was initiated in Lagos under the aegis of Soludo. Diet was open and not presorted under Soludo. Under Soludo, there was a bait of Nigeria currency in the international world and its drive on the investment grade. Banks and Insurance companies were regularly checked under Soludo irrespective of what Sanusi and his group are going around saying. Sanusi’s angst may be based on a hint of jealousy over the whole process. But it is his attempt to dastardly Soludo’s record that marked him as unfair, uncivil, and yes probably dishonest. Soludo was under way in initiating an Open Market Operation where private buyers will be capable of purchasing government securities instead on banks only and no Northerner will say that it did was there to benefit their joint venture. Stock buyback was initiated through a renascent NDIC under Soludo. The non performing debt or obese account were to be checked and dealt on, but it was Soludo who began to raise the concern for removing CEOs who conducted lending on thin accounts. But I fault Soludo on removing the price ceiling and shunning convertible since inflationary pressure and consumer prices are one of the same.

“Strong and effective corporate governance is being enforced through the overhaul of the system of board appointments, tenure, and the requirement for responsible and efficient management. An asset management company (AMCON) has been established as a resolution vehicle to assist in the recapitalisation of the banks that have required CBN intervention”.

Mr Sanusi Islamic Banking has its moments it is of some success in many parts of the world, like in South East Asia. In Nigeria, we are very good people and we can allow our Muslim brothers to bring the best part of their banking, and no group is that tolerable more than the East. Inviting 5 Islamic countries to buy Nigerian banks or at least become majority stakes isn’t funny, but that’s exactly what Sanusi did. These days, Muslim countries and their societies are not doing very badly and they include Muslim Community Co-operative of Australia, Indonesia, Brunei, and so on, that render services and advisory to Islam loyalist. These days we have all kinds of financial product like Islamic Financial Services, Muslim E trade, ‘Muslim Yahoo Finance (Islamic Q)’. And then there are Arabic Banks that played a serious hand in the spike of oil prices from 2001 – 2008, raising their ante against the West economic society and its paean ancillary. It seem as if it is a hidden war to which Nigerians are forced to participate either/or.

Tunde Fagbenle said

The publics, local and international, are watching and hoping that with one year of angry intervention behind him, Sanusi would now calm down to ensuring a more moderate and collective approach. More importantly, it is hoped that President Goodluck Jonathan will not hearken to the pressure of those who love Nigeria less and are only hurt by Sanusi’s cleansing.

I think the cleansing is not complete since there some Igbos and others from East who are still bank managers in Nigeria. I mean Sanusi should have gone the same distance as did Awolowo and ban all Igbo and Easterners from owing anything in country. And not a single drop of oiI is by the way found in the North. I mean in the last ten years, places like Aba, Onitsha, and some other commercial nerves of the country have gone from bad to worse. It was estimated that during Obasanjo’s administration alone, Aba and Onitsha lost 16 billion worth of investment. Many of these confiscated goods by Obasanjo’s administration were sold to these same Fulani Emirs and chiefs of Hausa. And if there is poverty everywhere people can think of is corruption. There is nothing to expect from someone Sanusi capable of enacting harmful and vilifying rules in banking when he should have embraced these new economy seeing the verities of their invention and tech-knowhow.

Tunde Fagbenle concluded in his article that

“The system needs stability and integrity and I believe Jonathan should give Sanusi the room to make his rescue an enduring one”.

But Islamic Banking is not for every society. It is not for many cultures of the world including certain Muslim society. Nigerian society and banking institution which Sanusi is Chairman cannot be fitted through the hour glass of the Shariah. Sanusi’s likable personality has nothing to do with the wrongs he has done to others, nor could it heal the wounds of disgrace nor amend the damages to the system. Even if the Shariah is only an actuary prism, it would only injure on the Nigerians and their society. No society is prone to the vices of Shariah than Nigerian society since the society is parity from the religious institutions that go back to the times of Almoravids when Islam reached the Northern part of Nigeria.

The International school of Islam in Sudan was established in 1988 to enable the range of connection between African and Muslims. Though the teachings of the School need reform given its severity to Arabic, we can mainly appreciate such effort to revitalize African Islamic history through the right Historian process. We can also commend that the impact of Berbers of pure antique as they say, Africans entirely, and Africans in all things should be noted in this article, should be taught in Nigerian schools, as mainly a comparative history and not replacement. It is however not the presence of these Berbers in North African history that is important, rather, it is now their absence that may have bedeviled the nature of Islam in old Marakesh and in Sudan. From such fracas between these groups, Islamic Banking has become a victim’s game.

But not many will deny the issue of Islam civil war in Sudan today between Arab of African descent and Muslims of direct Africa, a case in point that has left many Africans of other tribes badly burned from the outrages of Arabic – Khartoum administration. That Sanusi obtained his degree at the same time that certain tribes of Sudan burned does not mean he is absolved on their difficulty, not does it mean that he supported the burning of the ‘Criminal’ others. It means what it spells, that he is not without the influence of Sudan style Shariah, not unlike those passed through a religious institution.

It is true that many Islamic countries of West Africa such Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Djibouti, etc, are using Islamic banking, and given the expansionary sweep of Islam in West Africa through Fulani of the 18c by way of Usman Danfodio, Umar Jibril, Mohammed Bello (son of Danfodio) and Hajj Umar Tall, there is no doubt that the home of the Fulanis in the last 200 years, would likely begin to force the issue of Islamic Banking.

But these countries taken together do not amount to Nigeria.