By Gbenga Abulude
Former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has debunked reports that he was nursing a presidential ambition towards the 2023 election.
Sanusi said that he has never had an interest in partisan politics as there are more ways to serve rather than becoming president of a country which was not part of his plans.
Speculations have been going round in some quarters that should the north have the opportunity to present a candidate in 2023, Sanusi had a good prospect of becoming the president because of his wide reach, cosmopolitan views about governance, as well as his experience in both both public and private sector.
But in an interview aired on Arise TV, Friday, Sanusi shocked many when he dismissed the speculations and declared he has no interest in partisan politics.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while speaking on his future plans during the interview, said he was going back to the academia which was his first love before banking came along the way.
Sanusi disclosed that he was heading to Oxford University in the United Kingdom, for a fellowship program in October.
He said, “People have been talking to me about politics when I was in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). I have never had an interest in partisan politics. The nature of my family is that we consider ourselves the leaders of the poorer people and you know politics can be very divisive.
“All I can say is that this not an objective for me. I think there are many ways of being of service to the nation. I started off as an academic and after just two years, I completed my masters and went into banking for some reasons. I have been a banker, a regulator, an emir.”
Speaking further, Sanusi said: “Going back to that very first career that I never completed. I can just be a professor in different universities abroad and the great thing with the life I have led is that not all universities have someone with a Ph.D, a bank CEO, a governor of the central bank and emir.
“It is a type of CV that will give you to any university in the world, even if it is Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, anywhere you want because it is about your entire life experience.
“I can’t see the future, so I will take life as it goes. I am in no hurry. I see my life as a life of service but I just don’t think that public service is limited to elected office, and any opportunity I have to serve I will take as long as it is a role I think I am capable of delivering. But I have no immediate plans to go into politics now.”
Sanusi also revealed that he would pen his thoughts by writing three books on his myriad experiences in life and career.
He mentioned the first book would be ”sharia society and identity”, while the second will focus on the central bank’s response to global financial crisis.
The former MD of First Bank Nig Plc said his third book will centre on interpretations of Muslim family law and cultural practices on the underdevelopment of northern Nigeria.
