Sex scandal of the year: CBN Gov., Sanusi Lamido accused of hiring, dating married mother of two

He could be the future emir of Kano, being a grandson of a past emir and a chieftaincy title holder. He is also an excellent banker, with his career crowned with the position as the Central Bank Governor. Once upon a time, there was a rumour of his presidential ambition. But today, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is the subject of a whirlwind of a moral bankruptcy, faced with grave allegation that if eventually proven beyond reasonable doubts, especially with emergence of other collateral facts, could tarnish his image beyond repair.

In the unfolding “Sanusigate” the Central Bank Governor has been alleged to be involved in an illicit extra-marital affair with a certain Dr. Maryam Waisu Yaro, a married mother of two, who also works at the apex bank. The boss and his subordinate are alleged to be involved in a romantic relationship according to a Premium Times exclusive story entitled Sanusi Lamido, his CBN Mistress and their Sweetheart Escapades. 

 The story of the affair between the CBN Governor and Mrs. Maryam Waisu Yaro, an Assistant Director at the CBN, graphically charted the duo’s romantic shenanigans, including the contents of mobile phone exchange, both SMS and voice. First posted on Premium Times’ website on June 2, 2013, the story went viral and has since been circulated by other online websites and blogs.

Premium Times, an online news media, known for credible investigative reporting avowed that based on its findings, the pair has been dating for at least six months before her recruitment allegedly influenced by Sanusi. The explosive report painstakingly reconstructed some episodes of the lovers’ trysts. On the night of Monday, February 25, 2013, Sanusi allegedly sent a text message to her: “Maybe you should come kiss me before board meeting tomorrow.” After keeping the appointment, they also arranged to spend the rest of the week together in Lagos. On the night of Wednesday, February 27, she flew to Lagos ahead of Sanusi and checked into a hotel in the city, her lover arriving the next day checked into the Federal Palace Hotel, where they both rendezvoused till Sunday when they both returned to Abuja.

The pair thereafter exchanged text messages to compliment each other. 

Yaro: “I had such a wonderful weekend. You have revived in me what I thought I lost long ago. I thought I lost the passion to love again.”

Sanusi: “Alhamdulillahi. ’Love you.”

Yet again they headed to Lagos on Saturday March 16 for another weekend of escapade with plans to return to their duty post in Abuja by Saturday March 17. However, the trip was reportedly fast tracked by one day due to the fact that the area Council election in Abuja was holding that Saturday and movement will be restricted. Yaro who arrived first checked into the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel in Victoria Island, and Sanusi who flew in at 11 pm from Kano via a chartered jet, stopped by his Ikoyi home before dashing to Room 23, where he spent the night with his mistress.

Again an exchange of SMS followed as they arrived back at their duty posts in Abuja. From Sanusi: “Love. Just landed in Abuja. Thank you for a wonderful weekend.”

Yaro’s reponse: “Alhamdulillah. I had a wonderful weekend too. I am able to get the 3:15 Arik Air. Love you.”

The report alleged that Sanusi (who consistently maintains a conservative posturing in public) have formed a way of arbitrarily hiring his girlfriends, mistresses and relatives without complying with the public service rules. He was also accused of dating married and unmarried women within the bank.

Aside his scandalous escapades, the Premium Times’ post also leveled grave allegation against the ace banker, alleging that he hired Dr. Yaro without complying with the CBN’s recruitment policy that emphasizes that appointments be made “on the basis of merit, through fair and open selection process.”  Yaro, who was a staff at the National Programme on Food and Security, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture was allegedly brought into the bank in July 2012 as Assistant Director without due process.

Responding to the explosive story, the apex bank issued a communiqué through its director of corporate communication, Ugochukwu A. Okoroafor and absolved its helmsman of any manipulation in the recruitment of his alleged lover. Describing the story as libelous, the communiqué scoffed at Premium Times’ post as “full of fabrications and inaccuracies.”

In contrast to the report that Maryam Yaro is a staff of the CBN at the level of Assistant Director, the rebuttal asserted that “Dr. Maryam Yaro is not, and has never been an employee of the Central Bank of Nigeria.” Describing her as one of four consultants hired on a one-year contract by the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural lending (NIRSAL), the statement also refuted the claim that Sanusi recommended and facilitated her hiring.

“In the course of establishing NIRSAL, the Hon. Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, through a formal letter, recommended Dr. Yaro to participate in the project as a Specialist on Rural Finance Access,” CBN argued.

However, the bank has no explanations for the seeming coincidental and otherwise illicit meetings in hotels across the country. 

On this, the bank made its position clear thus: “We have noted that the other allegations in the post border on the person of the CBN Governor, are consistent with previous attacks. In line with the Governor’s usual practice of not responding to these libelous comments on his person, we have decided not to respond.”

In an attempt to offer clarifications, Sanusi offered more insights about the woman at the centre of the controversy. “I have known Dr. Yaro since 1981. She was my student in Yola and she later came to ABU Zaria. We have been very good friends but this is not why NIRSAL took her,” Sanusi affirmed.

A Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Yaro is reportedly fluent in three Nigerian languages and has extensive working experience working with farmers across the country on different agricultural programmes. She has also been a consultant to the Food and Agricultural organization (FAO) and was one of the experts engaged by the National Programme on Food Security before she was hired by NIRSAL. Yaro is reported to be in her second marriage, having lost her first husband to sudden death. She is now married to a businessman husband, identified as Ahmed, who is Kaduna-based but frequently travels to Abuja.

Sanusi who will be 52 on July 31, is a ranking Fulani nobleman and a respected Islamic scholar. As a career banker, he has been recognised with the global award for Central Bank Governor of the Year, as well as for Central Bank Governor of the Year for Africa among other recognitions. The TIME magazine also listed him in its TIMES 100 list of most influential people of 2011.

Although both lovers had denied having any extra-marital affair, many observers believed they ought to go the extra mile by suing Premium Times for defamation of character. However, if they file a court suit, aside from running into a solid defense of Justification, they are likely to be confronted with more sordid details of their illicit affairs, especially if Premium Times had deliberately withheld some damning evidence and then choose to unleash such in court. From all indication, the online news media known for credible sleuthing is not likely to go on a wild goose chase over such a prominent personality as the Central Bank Governor. Chances are that the people in Premium Times have more aces up their sleeves. And we may yet have not seen the end of the “Sanusigate” scandal.