Dialogue with a Critic
By
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
sanusis@ubaplc.com
[LAGOS, NIGERIA]
January 31 2001
 

Mr. Critic: " Mallam Sanusi, why are you so controversial?"

Me: "Not  knowing what you mean, I am unable to answer."

Mr. Critic: "Of course you know what I mean.  Sometime ago, you wrote a Fulani article in which you said Igbos had no culture."

Me: "I said no such thing.  I said the political structures in Igboland at the time of arrival  of the colonialist were  udimentary in comparison with the Sokoto Caliphate and  Yoruba Kingdoms."

Mr. Critic:  "You see what I mean!  How could you say such a thing? For six weeks Igbos were up in arms in the Newspapers. You almost started a second Biafran war.  But that is not even the issue now."

Me: "Really! What is the matter on hand?"

Mr. Critic: "Look, it is one thing to attack Igbos, another to attack your own people."

Me:"Who did I attack now?"

Mr. Critic: "Stop pretending.  Your article on Faseun was an insult to the north.  Uncle W has already said you support genocide."

Me: "Uncle W did not mention my name.  He was referring to somebody else."

Mr. Critic: "Tell that to the birds.  Everyone knows he was talking back to you and you deserved it.  He was even soft on you.  How could you say the killing of northerners in Lagos was identical to the retaliatory killings of Yorubas in Kano."

Me: "I did not say they were identical.  I said they were similar?"

Mr. Critic: "You talk too much English.  Identical, similar, same difference."

Me: "The presence of certain common features is one thing.  The absence of all difference is another."

Mr. Critic: "Oyingbo! So tell me, in what sense are they similar?"

Me: "In the sense that many innocent Nigerian lives were taken, that the State could not protect those lives and that no one was brought to Justice at the end of the day."

Mr. Critic: "I see.  Do you believe that the killing of northerners by OPC vandals is an attempt at ethnic cleansing?"

Me: "I do."

Mr. Critic: "Do you agree that the murder of the Hausa woman in Shagamu for seeing Oro was barbaric?"

Me: "I do."

Mr. Critic: "Do you believe the killing of Yorubas in Kano was retaliatory?"

Me: "I do."

Mr. Critic: "Stop being sarcastic."

Me: "I am not.  I sincerely believe these things and have written that in my articles.  Read my Afonja article, or my Restructuring paper and you will see.  However…."

Mr. Critic: "Now what?"

Me: "I am honest enough to admit that my views are subjective, and reflect my identity as a Muslim, Fulani Northerner."

Mr. Critic: "How is that?"

Me: "Take the woman in Shagamu.  A Yoruba man is likely to believe she deserved to be killed for seeing Oro.  The cult would have killed her even if she was Yoruba."

Mr. Critic: "But is that not barbaric?"

Me: "Let me ask you a question.  If a Christian in Maiduguri defecated on the Qur'an what would the indegenes do?"

Mr. Critic: "Probably sever his head, deservingly so!"

Me: "Christians would think that  barbaric.  While you see the murder of Yorubas in Kano as an excusable retaliation for the murder of Hausas in Shagamu, the Yorubas see it as a callous and unjustifiable attack on innocent citizens because the people of Shagamu defended the integrity of their culture.  It is a matter of opinion."

Mr. Critic: "I see your point.  But does that mean motives do not matter?"

Me: "They do but in these cases they can not be established because we can not be objective.  Even if we could, the nobility of the motive does not confer legitimacy on mass murder."

Mr. Critic: "Okay.  Let us move on.  Uncle W. made a very sound point.  While Yoruba leaders defended OPC, the JNI and CAN in Kaduna were calling for trial of culprits.  What do you say to that?"

Me: "Did you read the reports of religious groups to the Board of inquiry?  Muslim groups claimed Christians were responsible for the carnage.  Christians blamed Muslims"

Mr. Critic: "Where are you heading?"

Me: "JNI was calling for conviction of Christians. CAN was calling for conviction of Muslims. Each party had already pronounced the other guilty. That is not what uncle W claimed they were doing."

Mr. Critic: "Let us go to the substance of your article, the continued detention of our brothers…."

Me: "Which uncle W deliberately side-stepped…"

Mr. Critic: "Shut up and listen.  All Yorubas supported Faseun and called for his release. When Bola Tinubu lied to a court they refused to prosecute him and the police refused to investigate.  Are you not naïve, asking us alone to give up our own for trial?"

Me: "I am happy you mentioned Bola Tinubu.  Tell me, what role did Gani Fawehinmi play in Tinubu's case?"

Mr. Critic: "He went to court as a private citizen asking the court to compel the police to investigate the charges."

Me: "Exactly.  How many lawyers do we have in the north?"

Mr. Critic: "Don't be stupid how can I know?  Very many."

Me: "Did they study the same law as Gani?"

Mr. Critic: "Of course they did, get to your point!"

Me: "How many of them have gone to court in the name of the north they love, and the northerners who were murdered, asking the court to compel police to investigate or the A.G of Lagos to prosecute Faseun?"

Mr. Critic: "I never thought of that…."

Me: "Of course you did not.  How many lawyers has the Arewa Forum retained as Advisers on this issue, or mandated to play the role of Gani?"

Mr. Critic: "None."

Me: "Does that speak of seriousness to get a conviction?  The Lagos State CP recently alleged tampering with Faseun's case file.  Still no lawyers in court!"

Mr. Critic: "Are you questioning the sincerity of our leaders?"

Me: "They are demagogues."

Mr. Critic: "Now you have abused them."

Me: "I have not.  What is a demagogue, do you know?"

Mr. Critic: "All I know is that it sounds abusive."

Me: "A demagogue is one who argues based on sentiment and emotion, rather than rationality."

Mr. Critic: "You see!  I knew you abused them.  Our Emirs, past Presidents, Leaders.  You have no respect for your elders."

Me: "If you insist.  Can you listen to me for a change?"

Mr. Critic: "I will try."

Me: "Do you know that not too long ago, Obasanjo really wanted Na'abba removed from his Speakership post?"

Mr. Critic: "Who doesn't know that?

Me: "Then suddenly some Ghana-must-go bags appeared in the House…."

Mr. Critic: "Yes! Members said they were bribes from the presidency."

Me: "Good.  What happened after that?"

Mr. Critic: "Apparently nothing."

Me: "Nothing!  No more talk about corruption in the House and self-probe.  No talk about presidential bribery."

Mr. Critic: "Okay, I get your drift.  So a deal was struck.  What does that have to do with this matter."

Me: "It is the same pattern.  Our politicians are not really after Faseun.  They are after a deal."

Mr. Critic: "What deal?"

"They want to release Bamaiyi, Abacha, Al-Mustapha and co."

Mr. Critic: "That is not fair"

Me: "Why do they link the two cases?  They can go after Faseun and those who perpetrate genocide but why say: Release my sons since you released yours?  They want a deal"

Mr. Critic: "Now look here…."

Me: "This time you shut up and listen!  So many of our politicians were on the Abacha gravy train.  They were Ministers and Advisers, friends of the First Lady and First Sons and First Daughters, in the forefront of the self-succession program-the notorious ta zarce.  So many of them turned up in one party it was called Abacha Peoples' Party by opponents.  Is that true?"

Mr. Critic: "Yes."

Me: "They all backed Obasanjo.  At that time no one said he was Yoruba.  Now Obasanjo picked his Running-Mate, his Ministers, his Ambassadors and Advisers, and contracts have been flying left right and centre but their number has not come up.  They remember the man who buttered their bread and try to get our uneducated masses to join their battle .  When some of us screamed against power-shift where were you?"

Mr. Critic: "You make sense.  But let me ask you a question.  In your heart do you consider it right to break ranks with your people?"

Me: "I believe the detainees have a case to answer and they should answer it.  If they are acquitted or convicted based on evidence so be it."

Mr. Critic: "But do you know you hold a minority view in the north today?  Should you speak against the current, as it were?"

Me: "Do you read philosophy?"

Mr. Critic: "Philosophers are pagans, I have no time for them."

Me: "Good for you.  Let me tell you a story from one of Plato's Socratic Dialogues.  Do you mind?"

Mr. Critic: "Go ahead if you must.  Do you really care if I mind?"

Me: "Calm down.  This story is from one of the early Platonic dialogues.  Socrates quizzes a man called Euthryphro on the nature of holiness.  The occasion was Euthryphro's prosecution of his own father for unintentionally killing a slave who had himself murdered another slave."

Mr. Critic: "The man prosecuted his own father?"

Me: "Yes.  His family thought it impious but Euthryphro said his family were ignorant of what is holy.  He saw holiness as doing what the gods love, and was willing to do it even if it offended his own family."

Mr. Critic: "Interesting.  Go on."

Me: "Does this not remind you of a verse in the Qur'an, asking believers to bear true witness even against themselves or their parents and close relations?"

Mr. Critic: "Are you suggesting that the Qur'an was copied from Greeks?"

Me: "Stop being silly.  This is why in the north we will never progress. When we fail to confute an argument we libel the advocate."

Mr. Critic: "Like accusing you of supporting genocide?"

Me: "You really are smart. You read between the lines. My point is this.  You ask me to bear false witness, or defend fellow-Northerners on trial for killing Southerners based on one of two reasons: Our adversaries are doing the same or our compatriots have joined them and abandoned their values. Not because you believe they have no case to answer.  Is that so?"

Mr. Critic: "In a manner of speaking, yes."

Me: "If I did that I would be taking my values from the Yoruba or from Northern politicians rather than Islam and would then be worse than Euthryphro, who in your books is a pagan, wouldn't I?"

Mr. Critic: "You know you are not as horrible as I thought you were.  But before you go, do you know what people say about you?"

Me: "Does any one ever know such things?"

Mr. Critic: "Sorry to say this.  Some people think you are mad.  Why are you laughing?"

"Because they may well be correct."

Me: "I can not believe this! You are horrible!"

Jarus, do you think Sanusi is honest with his recent statements linking the 13% deriavation to boko haram? How on earth will Sanusi ever try to sell that funny idea to Nigeria if He's not a pathetic supporter of boko haram.


As for this nonsense article, I will as usual delete it 'cos it makes no sense.

BlackPikiN:

Jarus, do you think Sanusi is honest with his recent statements linking the 13% deriavation to boko haram? How on earth will Sanusi ever try to sell that funny idea to Nigeria if He's not a pathetic supporter of boko haram.


As for this nonsense article, I will as usual delete it 'cos it makes no sense.

This article seems like image laundering now that Nigerians know what he all about (boko haram and awuf oil money).

As far as i am concerned his image is irreversibly damaged. The 13% derivation link to BH and statement about the 'govt subsidizing consumption of the masses' during subsidy debate has proven that the man is an eloquent and empty person.

He should be banned from holding any national post.

His write-up is so sectional, provocative and inflammatory.
No right thinking person will ever let him hold any public post.
He can try the nonsense in kano or in the North.

Why is this on the front page? 2001 article with few replies? Something is fishy.
Truly intelligent person but no one said intelligence gives you a fair mentality. His mentality is undeniably sectional with specks of nationalism and rationality. All in all, he wants power and he damn well can play politics. Very intelligent.

Too longggggggggggggg *Yawns*, Stopped halfway

u wont stop hating him,he wont stop dissappointing u,he is nigeria messi,u had better start liking him,can anyone give me a name of who is better than him?GEJ?TINUBU?

*sighs and leaves for d next thread*

SLS in his usual fashion never gives a damn whose ox is gored.
Even in 2001 was bold enof to call for the prosecution of al mustapha and co.
problem is in africa, philosophy is allien, sentiments reign supreme

Its already too late to do all these damage control. We know he is championing the Northern propaganda and also a big bigot

Indifferent.

Sanusi; #an Hitler in the making#

Sanusi , firm, an enigma, passionate , intelligent, always want to make a difference and prove a point, AFRCAN BANKER OF THE YEAR, GILL MARCUS SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK GOV CAME 2nd to SLSEven stardands and poor acknowledge SLS yesterday. I just love and respect this Guy, but his N100 million donation to kano victim is the only thing i have against him been naija next president while he did not say jack when churches in madalla and jos were bombed.

Either Jarus is sanusi or an employee of CBN.He is always feeding us with sanusi crap every time.

Yes, I am Sanusi. If I catch you

BlackPikiN:

Jarus, do you think Sanusi is honest with his recent statements  linking the 13% deriavation to boko haram? How on earth will Sanusi ever try to sell that funny idea to Nigeria if He's not a pathetic supporter of boko haram.


As for this nonsense article, I will as usual delete it 'cos it makes no sense.

Typical Africans, rather than try to understand the message we kill the messenger.

Sanusi saying '13% derivation led to boko haram' does not mean he is a member of BH (or even supports the madness), if u bothered to read the full article in question, you will realise that the main point of the article is the economic difference between the South and the North, which is further worsened by the increase in allocations to the southern states, while the North continues to fall into deeper poverty. The naked truth is that the economic and political lopsidedness is what is really eating this country up.

Beaf:

This article seems like image laundering now that Nigerians know what he all about (boko haram and awuf oil money).

WTF?! I could have sworn '2001' was written several times in the OP in English.

Except you're insinuating that Sanusi has discovered time-travel and went back in time to write an 'image laundering' article.

Sls had lost his relivance due to the fumbling economy created by his shallow and showmanship ideas. Just looking for what to hold on to as a drowning man, he has decided to fan the ember of northern sentiments for tribal support. He is a colosal failure. We need a soludo or remi babalola for rescue. U can't offer economic solution from the ideas of the islamic school of sudan.

Ijogz K:

Too longggggggggggggg *Yawns*, Stopped halfway

Don't worry, you are on the way to a glittering political career
Jonathan with his PhD will not read it to the end

Beaf:

This article seems like image laundering now that Nigerians know what he all about (boko haram and awuf oil money).

Of course, where was Jonathan in 2001? Invisible. What opinion did he have then, what did he represent.
Now he is the greatest Nigerian that has ever lived!!!

Quoting Socrates when in actual life he is full of sectional/religious sentiment. Goddam hypocrite!

Jarus unfortunately is basically the equivalent of GenBuhari when it comes to Sanusi.

funshint:

Sanusi; #an Hitler in the making#

No Comment!

SANUSI THE ECONOMIC MAGICIAN



One big problem of Nigerians is our inability to scrutinize people’s pedigree.
Look at president Jonathan for instance, this is a man with zero success story as both deputy and Gov. of bayelsa state, zero success story as both vice and acting president yet Nigerians delude themselves he is the messiah even when it was clear that unscrupulous people were donating to his campaign, we still believed he will take us to the promised land on luck.


Let us talk about this mystic economic team Jonathan put together, who are these people?
I for one have no bias against any public official in which ever capacity but I have zero tolerance for incompetence.
Has sanusi’s economic model ever worked in this country? Which economic school of thought does he belong to and what is his mission in this country?


I asked this because I am an ardent follower of events in our economic sphere and have never been shy to put Sanusi’s parlance and pragmatism of economic solutions to a test, but as I speak, sanusi’s economic agenda eludes me.


This is a man who inherited a banking sector which according to Business day 2006 edition averred that “for every five Nigerians with a good job, three are bankers”.
Today, we have a Sanusi who in his usual voodoo economic jingoism has created more unemployment and inefficiency in the banking sector than the military junta.


Who is this man Sanusi?


In the words of his predecessor who consolidated these banks, “the banks were more financially robust” and doing bigger business but along the line something happened.
There was partial deregulation and the cost of diesel went all time high and very scarce, some of those companies who took loans from the banks were running high over head cost and couldn’t survive the tsunami of events that followed,
Job cuts, and eventual closure was the case. During the last days of chukwuma soludo, the businesses were already down so no way to repay the bank loans.


The banks were stranded but soludo applied wisdom, in his words ‘’ decision making in the banking system must carry the instrument of perception along’’ and that was exactly what he did, he quickly created an EDW whereby the near distressed banks could quietly access Govt. loans to revive their institutions hoping to keep people’s confidence in tact while the banks gradually recover.


Here comes our Sanusi with his usual economic parlance and political jingoism.
Destroyed the first instrument of perception which soludo fought so hard to preserve by coming on National television to announce that those banks are not healthy. Till date, we lost one of the most viable sectors of this economy; we lost meaningful employments and international confidence in our banking institutions in its entity, thanks to Sanusi’s voodoo economic theories and mystic economic solutions.


I ask again; who is this Man Sanusi and his mission in this country?


I leave you to be the judge of preceding events from Sanusi’s actions. After consulting his economic oracle, he boldly told Nigerians that the way forward is to bail out the banks (which he destroyed) and SME’s (small and medium scale enterprise) hoping that they will bounce back in business to repay the bank loans.


Till date, Sanusi has not given Nigerians the progress report of those bailed out banks and SME’s especially those in the textile business.
Today, by throwing his weight behind full deregulation in the downstream sector simply tells me that Sanusi’s witch doctor did not tell him exactly which economic formula destroyed his banks. Perhaps he thought that his SME ‘’palliative’’ was good enough for miserable Nigerians who don’t mind trading a permanent position job for a contract job which was what his SME’s were offering or rather, our employments for underemployment.


This is a man that ignores the basic on ground economic theories that work in the country for some mystic economic solutions.


That begs the question; should you deregulate fully the downstream sector, what becomes of those SME’s and how do they repay the loans you gave to them considering that energy cost and inflation will triple their over head cost? Or has his voodoo economic solution already categorized them as mere collateral damage in his economic reform agenda?


Let us analyze some of sanusi’s Hennessey inspired economic formulae.


First he said that by withdrawing subsidy they have destroyed corruption and broken the financial bones of the ‘’cabal’’ benefitting from this subsidy regime, is this really true?
If the landing cost of PMS is about 110naira and government’s inefficiency bloats it to 141naira (ofcourse, storage,transportation,deumurrage etc as enshrined into the subsidy are all Govts ineptitude).
“Citeris paribus” under the subsidy program, a marketer earns 110-65 (ie if ideally Govt clean their mess)
And without subsidy, a marketer makes 220,180,165-110 who exactly did this economic magician break their finances? Because what I see in my economics kwashiorkor is Govt transferring the burden of import deficit to the people not the marketers losing money like sanusi claims.


Secondly, his liquor economics made him believe that he will save money in the face of spiral inflation, and went ahead to justify the inflation saying it is by a little fraction not more than 4% increase, lol. What indices did this

acclaimed “pundit” use in measuring this?
In an economy without a functional price regulatory agency and a comatose standard organization with shabby police officers? In an economy where everybody is his own LGA and can fix rates with impunity? What drives this man’s economic sagacity? Witch craft?

Thirdly,


Sanusi is consistently lying to Nigerians that an increase in pump price will attract investors to build refineries; this is the verge where I think sanusi should go back to school.
SLS is not enlightened enough to understand why there was an exodus of indigenous American companies between 1998 to 2008 to Asia and Africa, reason; COST OF DOING BUISNESS or better put, UNFAVOURABLE BUISNESS CLIMATE.


With unfavorable tax laws, incessant labor wage reviews and land acquisition challenges, most companies couldn’t survive and they left US en masse conversely, land grab in Africa and cheap labor in Asia became viable alternatives.


Today, a drunk CBN governor in his usual rhetoric, capitalizing on the chasm of academic deficiency of average Nigerians is proposing that increase in pump price which will directly translate to high energy cost (in a generator driven economy), spiral inflation and high cost of labor will attract foreign investors to build refineries. Is it not ridiculous?


What kind of voodoo economic theory is that?
sanusi quickly forgot to tell Nigerians that their existing refineries even at a disappointing output is subsidized.


Mr Sanusi should have asked himself, when we deregulated diesel, did we attract heavy duty companies, diesel refineries and why?
According to his business model, I was expecting that after the deregulation of diesel, we would have had companies like CAT,Ingersollrand,Volvo,Ebara,bosh,Groove,Capco etc even refineries enhanced to produce more of Diesel with limited petroleum by products relocating their plants to Nigeria to benefit from our diesel profitable market. But in reality, that wasn’t the case and i will explain why;
Take shell for example, the presence of SPDC in portharcourt has given rise to a plethora of servicing companies rendering one or two services to shell and that is how it works. These servicing companies are equally employers of labor.
Does sanusi think that the refining companies will be servicing themselves? Is that possible? When you destroy the business environment for these smaller servicing companies to thrive, how exactly do you want the refining companies to thrive? For the few that will survive, at what cost will they render their services? Shouldn’t the investors consider these in their feasibility studies?
How will they cope? If at all it works, most components and services are definitely going to be outsourced to neighboring countries creating jobs for Ghanaians and Nigerians than Nigeria.
Some servicing companies will rather relocate to nearby countries and leave skeletal operations here in Nigeria just to stay in business; sanusi will end up exporting services elsewhere.
I am deeply ashamed and embarrassed at the caliber of people that take decisions for this nation.
I say it for the umpteenth time; we don’t need to create problems to solve problems, what we need is to ensure that Nigeria has cheaper oil on ground, that will attract investors as against sanusi’s high pump price economic theory which will breed inflation and closure of smaller companies.
The IOC’s (international oil companies) operating in Nigeria has told us that it takes less than 12 usd to extract 1bbl of our crude oil.
Why is sanusi not thinking of creating a solution from that angle? if NPDC can guarantee us just 150,000bbl/d of this cheap crude at less than 12usd, the market will be attractive, add refining cost and other cost to push it to about 22usd/bbl a pms of 30naira per litre will be achievable from these refineries and inflation will reduce by over 40%.leaving us with a plethora of servicing companies which will translate to more jobs.
Is this too much for Madueke and Sanusi to sit and figure out? Other than their inflation marred solution.


Lastly


Sanusi lied that the subsidy reinjection fund will be used to build refineries; I can’t help but pity his unrealistic mystic economic solutions.
How much is the FG’s cut in the SURE fund? Less than 600billion, what kind of refinery will that build? I hope sanusi is not confusing refineries for fuel dispensing stations or are we heading for another IMF/world bank debt burden? I don’t just get it.
Where will this SURE funding appear from? I didn’t see it in the 2012 budget proposal, is it right to increase the suffering of the Nigerian people and go back and implement your constitutional annual budget?
Where is sanusi going to get the crude oil to supply these refineries? From the little we make from our JV? I hope this man is not taking us for a ride?
This same crude we use to implement our budget? Which sells at international price? This man is cynical.
How did we end up with two monsters sanusi lamido sanusi and Allison Madueke at the same time?
I can see a pattern in Sanusi’s line of thought;
if a bank is performing poorly, CLOSE IT DOWN
If the subsidy regime is performing poorly; SCRAP IT.
Can Nigerians please help me ask Sanusi if it is a crime to proffer real economic solutions to economic challenges other than throwing away the child with the bath water?
Should we fold our hands and watch our Economic magician Sanusi scrap the economic foundation of our survival?
Sanusi and Allison madueke are doing a great disservice to this nation though I don’t expect Mr. President to fire them because he is too incompetent to read the hand writings on the wall.

someone shared this view;





The moment an
Islamic fanatic start pointing out your
errors then you know you're in even
deeper trouble than you would ever admit.
You can't make these stuffs up.
Malam Sanusi might be a Sharia scholar,
but give it to him, he sure knows how to
thump our mediocre legislators.
This narcissist seems to think he's the only
living economist out there.
From cashless banking, in an illiteracy-
ladden topography, to unwarranted ban on
ATMs at public locations, all sorts of
egregious policies he'd put in place, if not
swiftly abrogated, is a slippery slope to a
forlorn economic situation we'll soon find
ourselves in.
This is a man who placed a N10,000 tariff
on every N1M transaction in this country
and still complains about cost of handling
and logistics hurdles of securing cash.
This is a man who single handledly
implemented segregated Sharia banking
system in a secular Nigeria and handed the
first licence to his former boss who
happens to be the father of the first
known Al Qaeda operative in Nigerian
history.
The fact that Mr. Jonathan is still oblivious
to the systematic pain Lamido is inflicting
on our economy tells us more about the
President's lack of cojones than it does
about the Islamic zealot he's using to
torment the citizenry.

Y do we people reason like this, is it cos d man's a Muslim or what!, I wonder how som pple reason like us, it pays us if d man is a non-Muslim n squanders money inordinately, than 2b a Muslim n do tins rightly, what has happened 4d past 13 yrs of democracy,n yet we keep complainin. We shall kip complainin until we quit bringin up religious matters n face d reality, We need someone that will b faithful, loyal n honest, not neccessarily a muslim or a x-tian

Sanusi obsession

bump

Jarus, Do you know that your man, Sanusi lamido is a very useless man unfit to hold any sensitive position in Nigeria except being the Imam of a mosque(maybe the central Mosque) in Kano state.