Cecilia Ibru, former chief
executive officer of the defunct Oceanic Bank, says she was persecuted by
Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), because he
thought she wanted his job.
In an interview with Saturday
Punch, Ibru said Sanusi, the emir of Kano, also ordered for the withdrawal of
her personal driver and security personnel.
In 2010, a federal high court in
Lagos had convicted and sentenced Ibru to six months in prison on a three-count
charge bordering on financial fraud.
The former bank CEO said she
accepted the offer for plea bargain because she was fed up with the trial and
wanted peace of mind.
“For me, they just wanted the
banks. An envious fight does not end, but that is a big story that I would
prefer to write about later. You find that when people knock you down, they
don’t expect you to get up again. So, when you get up, they have mixed
feelings,” Ibru said.
“I won’t say betrayal, including
(Lamido) Sanusi (the then Governor of the Central Bank) himself, but people
that I thought would come and help me did not do so. However, God raised other
people to help me.
“He (Sanusi) thought I wanted his
job but I didn’t. I was offered the position, but I said no.
“Remember I said I was planning
to retire in March of the following year to go and stay with my husband. When
he (Sanusi) was appointed, I congratulated him. He even told me at that time
they had not given him a letter and I told him not to worry that it would come.
“Back then when I was in office,
if I was at home, you wouldn’t find a parking space in my compound; it was
always filled with cars and people who wanted one favour or the other from the
bank. But after that episode, everywhere became empty.”
Ibru, however, reiterated that
she has forgiven the people she helped while she was in office but deserted her
when the corruption trial began.
The court had ordered the assets
and shares worth N191 billion traced to Ibru be forfeited and managed by the
Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
The former Oceanic bank CEO was
reported to have bought shares in 298 unlisted and listed blue chip companies with
depositors money including assets in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, the United
States of America and some countries around the world.
Investigators had told the court
of how Nanashettu Bedell, 51-year-old nanny of Cecilia also known as Nanashetu
P. Abdulai, was used as a conduit through which the ex-CEO allegedly laundered
N30 billion of depositors’ savings.
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