Our people have a saying ‘the cloaca of the cock is exposed when the wind blows.’ Since the bank tsunami of August, people thought Chukwuma Soludo a banking expert, an intellectual economist, international icon, Professor of Professors but above all, a moral man. But, since Sanusi’s sanitization of the banks began, many Nigerians who once had a regard for the ever intelligent economist ‘have covered their
faces in shame.’ I will give you a little more on this phrase in inverted commas later.
I must confess that I admire Soludo greatly despite all his corruption and the moral ambiguities surrounding his affairs at our apex bank. That he is super intelligent can never be doubted. His enviable records at UNN alone are enough confirmation.
He still applied his intelligence on the 140 million of us. For five good years, we stood still and admired his international advertisement and circulation. As he received awards from London to Oslo, some even pitched him for the Nobel Prize.
The Igbo of the South East especially danced around joyously because once again, one from their cradle was the eminent light of the Nigerian society. While he reigned at the Central Bank, dividend warrants of banks for the first time since the depletion of the value of our naira started looking fat.
What we did not know was that these banks which were declaring these bonuses are like children carrying fattened Ghana-Must-Go bags on kwashiokor feet. Though some people smelled some rat because of the speculations which flew around that Soludo will not be re-appointed in his capacity as our CBN Chief Executive, none anticipated that the rot which will be uncovered in the sub-sector will be of this magnitude.
The ability of Soludo to come out of a soak-away pit smelling rosy and looking dandy is baffling. The cockiness with which he carries himself as the governorship candidate of the PDP is a fist of effrontery to the Nigerian nation.
The endorsement of this candidature by Mr President is surely one of the reasons that Nigeria has gone further north in the index of corrupt nations. That his activites in the apex bank are not already being investigated is a rape of the ‘rule of law’ campaign.
Soludo has conned most Nigerians but not all. The worst part of the present revelation of his affairs in the apex bank is that the faith of many youths, mostly students who had unwavering faith in Soludo has been crashed.
The son of my friend had insisted he would read economics at UNN. Everybody thought the chap would go for Law or English Language given his proficiency with both spoken and written English. Instead, he opted for economics at Soludo’s alma mater.
Three weeks ago when I called him to know how he was faring. When our discussion inevitably turned on the former bank executive my friends son responded, ‘Soludo has made me cover my face in shame’.
Ndi Anambra, it will be unfairness to ourselves if we let this man con us again.