Fresh facts emerged yesterday that President Umaru Yar’Adua refused to save Bank PHB from sanction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to prove a point that his administration is committed to bank reforms.

It was also learnt that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is awaiting reports of infractions from the CBN before moving into the banks.

The CBN had on Friday sacked the management of three of the 14 banks it audited in the last batch of the exercise.

Those sacked were the Managing Directors of Bank PHB Plc, Mr. Francis Atuche, Equitorial Trust Bank, Mr. Ike Oraekwotu, and Spring Bank, Mr. Charles Ojo.

The CBN also removed all the Executive Directors of the three banks, all don-Executive Directors of Spring Bank, and Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. as a non-executive Director of Equitorial Trust Bank.

The apex bank also announced immediate appointment of three tested bank executives to take over the affairs of the banks as Managing Directors.

The new Managing directors are: Mr. Cyril Chukwumah (Bank PHB Plc); Mr. G.O. Folayan (Equitorial Trust Bank Plc) and Mrs. Sola Ayodele (Spring Bank Plc).

The sack of the three bank chiefs ended a six-month Audit Exercise of the 24 banks in the country.

But investigation showed that a drama played itself out on Tuesday when Sanusi went to present a brief on the Audit Report of the 14 banks to the President.

It was gathered that apart from Sanusi, there were some members of the Economic Management Team at the meeting with the President.

A source said: "After painstakingly going through the brief on the 14 banks, the President simply told the CBN Governor: ‘You should apply the law as you had done for those indicted in the previous Audit Report.’ The President said no waiver or soft-landing for any bank.

"He also told Sanusi: ‘you must be fair to all, irrespective of whose ox is gored.’

"The President’s declaration shocked everyone at the meeting because of Yar’Adua’s family’s interest in Bank PHB.

"The declaration of the President buoyed the confidence of the CBN Governor, who enjoys a direct access to Yar’Adua on bank reforms."

It was gathered that Yar’Adua’s non-partisan position informed the marathon meeting the CBN management had between Wednesday night and Thursday.

As at press time, however, it was gathered that the EFCC was still awaiting report of infractions on the sacked bank chiefs before moving in to do more investigation.

A highly-placed source, who spoke in confidence with The Nation last night said: "We are waiting for a report from the CBN before we move in to investigate infractions.

"Our approach will not be different from the initial one. You should not forget that the CBN sent a report to us and we had to move in to investigate issues raised by the apex bank.