Former President Goodluck Jonathan and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, were seen together for the first time in 10 years on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

They were both present at the book launch edited by former Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman, exchanging pleasantries.

During Jonathan’s tenure in 2014, he suspended Sanusi, who was the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, after Sanusi expressed concerns about the $49.8 billion missing under Jonathan’s administration.

In a chapter of the book, Sanusi made reference to the incident that led to his exit from the position.

Goodluck Jonathan, who chaired the launch, denied that such a vast amount went missing under his watch.

"I need to say why I did not quite agree with him. All that he wrote was on some of the issues, especially the one that is related to me. The one he raised was that he was sacked because he blew the whistle that the federal government lost $49.8 billion. It’s not quite correct. It was not that he was sacked. He was suspended," Jonathan said.


According to the former president, there was not enough time for the Financial Reporting Council of CBN to investigate the allegations before Sanusi’s tenure ended. He said, "So, before we finished, his tenure was already over; well, probably we would have called him back.”

Speaking at the launch, Sanusi, who was the Special Guest of Honour addressed Jonathan as "my boss that sacked me," adding, "I know everyone is expecting me to respond, but I will not respond."

"When I was told to make a speech, I told Shamsuddeen Usman that I will not speak about my intervention out of respect for my boss, the President.

I feel most inappropriate for this to turn into a debate. It’s not about me or the President, it’s really about Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman today and his book. I always knew my chapter will be controversial when Dr. Usman asked me to write.

I said this topic is so similar to my book. You’re making me begin to reveal some of the things that are in my head. In other words, when I wrote that chapter, that’s it for me.

I’ll make a few remarks. First of all, I continue to respect my president, Jonathan. I do not have any grudges against anyone.

I think what comes out of my chapter, like in the book, is something that we all know. Which is that for decades, the Nigerian state has been captive to elites’ class that sees the state as a site.

This is a fact, and this is what has destroyed Nigeria. People get into office, and when they get into office, what they’re thinking of is how much they can make out of the state, rather than how they can use the state to serve the citizens. If we agree on that, we have no disagreements.

Why is Nigeria where it is today? I mean, you referred to the Dangote Refinery. I don’t know what the details are. For a country feeding itself from imported petroleum products, instead of grabbing this opportunity, you know, with open arms, we are frustrating it.

Why would anyone stop us from having the capacity to produce our own refined petroleum products? Because there are vested interests who have profited from Nigeria continuing to import these products.

They could be all marketers internationally. They could be people locally who have been profiting from these subsidy stamps. And this is the end, because every excuse disappears when you are not getting imported, and you are disembarking."