Like Idi Amin, Jonathan made the CBN his ATM–Soludo

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.