"President Jonathan is surrounded by incompetent, sycophantic and fraudulent aides" - Sanusi

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, suspended governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank has done a character portrait of President Goodluck Jonathan, painting him as a simple man, trying to do well.

Jonathan’s undoing, he said, is that he is surrounded, by incompetent, sycophantic and fraudulent aides.

Sanusi who has been firing on all cylinders spoke in an interview with AFP.

In all interviews, he has been trying to explain the motive behind his sudden removal on Thursday by Jonathan, after he accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) of misappropriating $20 billion (14.5 billion euros), allegations that earned him powerful enemies across the government.

Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly about the extent of corruption in government.

“When you sit with President Jonathan himself he appears a nice simple person who is trying his best to do his best,” Sanusi said.

“His greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts.”