Tobias Sylvester
Former Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Oceanic Bank, Cecilia Ibru has accused the former Governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of persecuting her because he thought she wanted his job.
In an interview with Saturday Punch, Cecilia said Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano also ordered the withdrawal of her personal driver and security personnel.
Responding to question on what could have caused competition between her and the then CBN governor, Cecilia Ibru said Sanusi thought she wanted his job. “ I was offered the position, but I said no” she added.
Explaining why she rejected the offer, she said:
“My husband was sick and I needed to be with him. That was the reason, and I didn’t think much about it anymore. 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”.
The former bank CEO said she was persecuted as she described the experience as an envious fight.
“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”
Explaining why she took bargain option during her trial, Ibru said it was not easy to plead that you are guilty when you know you are not. She added that her husband was sick at that time and she was tired of the whole thing. She said:
“I was tired of the whole thing. I thought to myself that why should I be fighting with my whole heart when there was an alternative, even though not a nice one; pleading that you are guilty when you know that you are not. You are pleading as if you are guilty and you are agreeing with whatever they wanted when you know you didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t easy; my husband was sick and I didn’t want to be sick too. So, I decided to do what I had to do so I could be able to function. That was it.”
Recall that in 2010, a federal high court in Lagos convicted and sentenced Ibru to six months in prison on a three-count charge bordering on financial fraud.
