Lamido Sanusi's Predicament Seems Worsening As SSS Accuses Him Of Financing Terrorism!

A new twist has been added to the ongoing travails of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi, as the Department of State Security Service, SSS, has accused him of financing terrorism. The SSS stated this at the Federal High Court, Lagos, while defending its decision to seize Mr. Sanusi’s international passport.

Mr. Sanusi’s passport was seized on February 20, as he arrived the Lagos international airport, hours after he was suspended as Central Bank Governor by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The new charge, which Mr. Sanusi’s lawyers described as false and baseless, tallies with a similar surreptitious but baseless allegation thrown at the bank chief by a presidential aide.

Reno Omokri, the Special Assistant to the President on New Media, had, on February 26, used a pseudonym, Wendell Simlin, to circulate an article that tried to link the recent spike in Boko Haram attack to the suspension of the CBN governor.

The embattled CBN chief was suspended by the president based on allegations of ‘financial recklessness’ by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN.

Mr. Sanusi, in separate suits, challenged his suspension, and asked for an enforcement of his fundamental rights as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. During the hearing of the rights’ suit, which continued on Monday, the respondents – the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF; the Police; and the SSS – made different claims.

The fresh terrorism-related allegation against Mr. Sanusi came from the SSS. The agency said it was investigating Mr. Sanusi for allegedly financing terrorism. The SSS counsel, Moses Idakwo, said Mr. Sanusi’s interaction with SSS officials did not last for up to an hour and did not constitute a violation of his rights.

He said the provisions of Section 6 of the National Security Agencies’ Act empowered the Service to impound the international passport of suspects pending the conclusion of investigations. It is not clear how this fresh allegation by the SSS is related to the dubious claims by Mr. Omokri.