Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II has been accused by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC of trying to reinvent a case of calumny against it over missing $20 billion.

NNPC in a statement in Abuja on Thursday said it was at a loss why Sanusi was hell-bent on hanging a tag of corruption on the corporation.

The corporation stated that the latest claim by Sanusi that issues surrounding the payment of kerosene subsidy were still unresolved was false.

“The respected traditional ruler has got it wrong again in much the same way his failure to grasp the issues of remittances to the Federation Account led him into the embarrassing error of alleging that NNPC failed to remit $49.8bn oil revenue into the Federation Account, an allegation which has since been proved to be false even by his own account.

“Our attention has been drawn to the latest gambit of the former CBN governor and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, to reinvent the wheel of his false allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by insisting, during an interview with Christiane Amanpour of the Cable News Network (CNN), that the issues surrounding his allegation of unremitted $20bn have not been adequately addressed.

“According to the royal father, ‘One of them (issues) is the billions of dollars being paid in kerosene subsidies without appropriation by the National Assembly and against a presidential order and we don’t know who authorised those payments and yet no one has owned up to say I authorised the payments, I made a mistake.

“But it is on record that he (as CBN Governor) attended the hearings of the Senate Committee on Finance where the issue of kerosene subsidy was exhaustively looked at vis-à-vis the Presidential Memo directing the removal of kerosene subsidy.

“The explanation was that the process of implementing the Presidential directive was not followed through by the Minister of Petroleum Resources at that time as required by law which technically meant that kerosene subsidy was not removed.”

*Adapted from Daily Independent. Photo shows Emir of Kano