The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi
Amaechi, says he divulged a letter which a former Central Bank of
Nigeria Governor and now Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, wrote to
former President Goodluck Jonathan on oil revenue theft in order to
check corruption.
Amaechi said the claim that he ‘clandestinely’ leaked the letter was not true.
Sanusi had on Wednesday claimed that
Jonathan threatened him for writing a letter to inform him (Jonathan)
that $49bn was missing from the account of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation.
Sanusi said that Amaechi, who was then the Rivers State governor, had confessed to leaking the letter.
In a statement issued by his media
office on Thursday, Amaechi said that to suggest that he
“surreptitiously, clandestinely or underhandedly ‘leaked’ the CBN
governor’s letter is indeed most unfair, disrespectful and uncharitable
to his person.”
The statement added that Amaechi
revealed the content of the letter because he believed that the level of
corruption during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan was
too high.
The statement read, “To put the records
straight, we want to categorically state that a concerned and patriotic
Nigerian, who felt troubled with what was happening then, gave a copy of
the Sanusi’s letter to Amaechi in Amaechi’s capacity as the Chairman of
the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. Like Amaechi, we should appreciate that
concerned Nigerian’s patriotism.
“When Amaechi got the letter, he spoke
to Sanusi who was still the CBN governor to confirm the authenticity of
the letter. Sanusi confirmed to Amaechi that he wrote the letter.
“During their conversation, Amaechi made
it abundantly clear to the then CBN governor that the looting of the
nation had to be stopped and that all non-remitted funds should be
remitted and that he (Amaechi) was going to use the letter to do
whatever was in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians.
“This was the stoppage of the
non-remittance and the recovery of all the non-remitted funds from oil
sales. The CBN governor didn’t agree with Amaechi on the way forward.”
The statement said owing to the fact
that the letter was given to Amaechi as the Chairman of the Governors’
Forum, he shared the letter with his colleague governors first, and with
Senator Bukola Saraki (now Senate President), who was doing some
investigation on the oil sector in the Senate.
The statement said in leaking the
letter, Amaechi was propelled by his patriotic zeal to put Nigeria first
and to do what was in the best interest of the nation.
The statement added, “Around that
period, a delegation from the United States’ government, specifically
from the offices of the secretaries of state and defence visited Amaechi
in Port Harcourt to discuss the issue of oil theft in Nigeria.
“From their records, they gave Amaechi
figures of billions of dollars (about $7bn annually) that was being lost
to oil theft in Nigeria. They were discussing the issue and the figures
of oil theft, and that was how the CBN governor’s letter to former
President Jonathan came up.
“In the presence of journalists covering
the visit, Amaechi brought out the Sanusi’s letter and showed the
visiting American delegation to buttress the point that Nigeria was
losing far more money to the non-remittance of proceeds from oil sales
into the Federation Account.”
