FORMER Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Professor Charles Soludo has accused ex-president Dr Goodluck Jonathan of running the institution in the same Draconian the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin ran his country in the 1970s.

Over recent weeks, stories have emerged about how the previous government used state money to run its political affairs and to fund its Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Under the presidency of Dr Jonathan, the government is accused of running the apex bank as a political body, in defiance of professionals and civil servants who wanted to keep it neutral.

Since the change of government in May last year, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the now opposition PDP of squandering Nigeria's resources. Professor Soludo has added his voice to this criticism, adding that it was regrettable that in spite of the bank’s statutory independence, it continues to be a victim of high-wire politics.

Professor Soludo added: “Imagine a scenario where a president can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and the CBN literally prints say, N3trn (£10.5bn) and doles  out cash to the presidency to prosecute an election campaign or for just about anything he fancies. It is a scary thought.

 “We are going down a dangerous path that ruins the economy. I don’t know any other country where such is tolerated, except perhaps what I watched in a movie about Idi Amin and his governor of the Ugandan central bank."

 Recent revelations regarding the arms scandal involving former national security adviser  Col Sambo Dasuki and the missing sum of $2.1bn and the apparent abuse of the CBN as a cash machine by the presidency, Professor Soludo said it should get reasonable people thinking. Col Dasuki has been accused of being the conduit for dispersing money meant to buy equipment for the military to PDP members and associates.