ASABA—GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan has revealed that he had wanted to pull out the state funds lodged in one of the troubled banks, when the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, dropped the hammer, which sent some of the chief executives of the banks packing.

Uduaghan, who was one of the discussants at the 1st Distinguished Lecture of the Sylvester Monye  Foundation in Asaba, weekend,  said that following the sack of the bank chief executives, most  of them, Delta indigenes, there was growing suspicion that Deltans were the target,  he quickly  put a call to the CBN boss, Mallam Lamido Sanusi for clarification.

He  said he had  then  threatened to withdraw the state’s money from one of the affected banks but after listening to Sanusi,  he dropped the idea after assurances that the bank in question was safe.

Amidst laughter,  he said Delta State government contributed to the CBN’s reforms, otherwise “if we had done that (withdraw the money), problems would have arisen.”

Other discussants at the lecture were Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, Mr. Albert Okumagba and Mr. Jean-Louis Ekra of Afreximbank, Egypt, while the occasion was chaired by the former Head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.