Senator Bukola Saraki, chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, has called for the review of the suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria, governor by President Goodluck Jonathan because it was not endorsed by the Senate.
Saraki said the statement by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe that the Senate was behind the president on the issue was Abaribe’s personal opinion, adding that the Presidency should not be encouraged to take illegal actions that could truncate the nation’s democracy and damage the economy.
The Senator, who is a former governor of Kwara State, spoke in an interview with journalists in Ilorin.
”The Senate has not at any time debated this issue and I want to say that the statement made by Senator Abaribe is his personal opinion. We never received a letter on this before, and so we did not debate it.
’’By the time the Senate resumes, we will look into the issue. I have gone through the CBN Act and the relevant sections and there is no part of that act that supports the action taken by Mr. President; whether you call it suspension or removal.
”This issue is not about Sanusi, but more about the new governor. We all know that his tenure is five years and another president can come up tomorrow and make reference to what happened in 2014 to the extent that the independence of the CBN is no longer there. This should be largely discouraged.
”We must follow the laws. There was a reason for passing the law, otherwise everybody will just be doing as he pleases. If the President can suspend the CBN Governor then how are we sure that he won’t one day say he has suspended the INEC Chairman?’’ he asked.