The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, is in the eye of the storm for what many see as his outspokenness and controversial position on critical national issues, especially his revelation about unremitted funds to the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Shortly before his suspension by the President, he spoke to Metropole magazine. Excerpts
You openly said you were not interested in being reappointed as the governor of CBN. Why?
We are all prisoners of our history and certain people and certain events in our lives tend to shape how we approach life. My father was a career diplomat and in 1975, General Murtala Mohammed appointed him as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His first request was that he would be allowed to leave in two years. Unfortunately, General Murtala Mohammed died after six months and he had to stay for another year; and so, he spent about three years.