The governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has
accused the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God,
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, of playing a role in shielding Erasmus
Akingbola, the corrupt former Chief Executive Officer of
InterContinental Bank PLC, from serious prosecution.
Nigerian authorities asserted that the rogue former banking executive
siphoned over N200 billion from the commercial bank he ran. Officials of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission also accused Mr. Akingbola
of using his loot to buy swanky properties in Europe and other parts of
the world. The former InterContinental Bank chief also reportedly
manipulated his bank’s stocks in insider trading deals.
Mr. Akingbola fled to the UK as soon as Nigerian authorities indicated
their desire to try him. He was later forced to return to Nigeria, but
his prosecution soon fizzled in what EFCC sources privately confided to
be a deal hatched at the highest levels to let him walk free.
Mr. Sanusi hinted at Pastor’s Adeboye’s involvement in the deal in a
widely circulated TEDX talk he gave in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. In
the video, the CBN governor relates his encounters with vested interests
in the banking sector.
Although Mr. Sanusi did not expressly mention Pastor Adeboye by name,
SaharaReporters was able to confirm from two sources that the Redeemed
Church leader was involved in the deals that led to the obstruction of
Mr. Akingbola’s trial.
Justice Habeeb Abiru, who was handling Mr. Akingbola’s trial, was
suddenly promoted to the Court of Appeals after Pastor Adeboye
intervened on behalf of the rogue banker with President Goodluck
Jonathan, one of the sources told SaharaReporters. Mr. Akingbola’s case
has since stalled in a maze of judicial manipulations and is currently
being tried by a third judge in Lagos.
In the video, the Central Bank Governor also makes a crucial retreat
from the position he took during the fuel price hike protests of January
2012. Mr. Sanusi had publicly and forcefully defended the case for
increasing the price of fuel and other gasoline products. But in the TED
talk, he admits that Nigerians who revolted in the “Occupy Nigeria”
protests after the Goodluck Jonathan administration unveiled higher fuel
prices were right. Mr. Sanusi disclosed that most of the fuel subsidy
funds had been stolen by highly connected individuals who continue to
evade justice.
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