Danger, President Jonathan Is Angry By Yusuf Ozu-Usman

If you walk on the streets of Nigeria today, the question you would hear ordinary Nigerians asking is why all of a sudden, President Goodluck Jonathan turned his red eye, sacking, demoting, suspending, forcing to resign, as well as receiving resignation and or retirement letters from his close aides and other public officers?
Such ordinary Nigerians may not be patience enough to know the offences and or the reasons that make such officers to be laid off or to go away.
Well, the official position of the President may have been predicated on constitution of Nigeria, but what is worrying is the timing of what is gradually turning to be an exodus, by design or by default, of such officers.
Not quite long ago, a whooping nine ministers were laid off in one fell swoop, while, in recent time, four more ministers resigned, even as the President’s Chief of Staff also threw in the towel. That was just as almost all the nation’s service chiefs, including the chief of defence staff were sacked.
While on that, came the President’s damocle that fell on the head of the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Of course, the suspension of Sanusi as CBN Governor, whom the President was in a haste to replace with another person, had been long expected, in view of the exposure, by the governor, of the missing $20 Billion (about N3 Trillion) in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In deed, that is what the ordinary man on the street know and to which he can ascribe the suspension.
And talking about suspension, except if my knowledge of basic English has failed me, you don’t suspend somebody and go ahead to appoint a substantive officer to replace him. In other words, suspension, as I understand it, means the subject staying away for a period of time for, mostly, an investigation to be carried out on him, and, he may be recalled or eventually sacked, depending on the outcome of the investigation.
But, when you use the word “suspension” and go ahead to appoint another person to occupy the seat of the one suspended, I beg, what are we talking about?
In a case such as this, only a few would argue that the President has the constitutional or legal right to suspend, or as in this case so far, sack Sanusi, but, viewing the whole drama against the background of Sanusi’s exposure of underhand deals in the petroleum sector, from the ordinary man’s point of view also, it may be inferred that the President is trying a cover up. In other words, it looks as if the President decided to punish Sanusi for blowing the whistle (of corruption in high places) against certain powerful, untouchable individuals or groups that have been milking the funds meant for the generality of the citizenry of this country.
At any rate, there appear to be some rights, as in the argument that the President has the right to hire and fire CBN Governor, that are better not exercised by foresighted leader, else, they rouse suspicion and raise eyebrows in many quarters as to what are the actions meant to achieve.
Hasn’t President Jonathan had enough of burden of leadership already to contend with instead of trying, as he is clearly doing, to build up another tribe of enemies, made up of erstwhile top aides that are thrown into the cold, with a sort of ignominy?
And, with the suspension or sacking of Sanusi who obviously has fallen out of favour with the President for reasons you and I may never know, would it be right for one to assume that the nation has seen the last of the President’s angst directed at his close aides and officers? Or are we to expect more display of President’s suspension, sacking, force-to-resign of top government officers, mainly because they fail to fall in line he draws?