A member of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has pronounced that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot remove the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido, from office. He stated further that the President does not have the constitutional power to do so even though he has a right to do so.
There have been reports that the Presidency may have forcelly asked Sanusi to resign from office in March 2014, few months to the expiration of his tenure. This came after a letter written to President Jonathan by Sanusi leaked.
In a press statement signed by the lawmaker’s aide, Wasiu Olanrewaju-Smart, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives categorically stated that, “Mr President has the right to ask the CBN governor to resign, same way Nigerians have the right to ask him or anyone to resign,” adding that, “having a right is one thing, having the power is another,” explaining that, “many have asked Mr President to resign but lack the powers to compel him to do so,”
“If those advising the president cannot think, at least they can read. The laws of the land are written in English and in black and white,” he continued, stating further that, “by asking that the president seek approval of two thirds of the Senate, the law essentially seeks to enforce the doctrine of checks and balances and to avoid the abuse of powers of a capricious and arbitrary president whilst at the same time guarantee the autonomy of the CBN.”
According to him, “the President now ironically needs an arm of the legislature that he has consistently disregarded to effect Sanusi’s dismissal. We all know that will be a tall order.”
Gbajabiamila threw his weight behind CBN’s autonomy, stressing that, “the CBN must be protected from an overbearing executive or any other arm of government.”
He added further that “it is funny that Nigerians rose stoutly to the defence of the CBN governor when the legislature attempted to amend the CBN Act to make the institution more accountable to the National Assembly. Now I see the wisdom in the position taken by most Nigerians.”
