He said: "Yes, General Buhari is right on the level of corruption in the country and we need to address this sufficiently.
"We have not helped the situation by living in denial (that the situation does not exist). I don't want to dwell on this because of the time that we are and we are close to an election."
Sanusi also said that the missing $20bn from the NNPC account has not been remitted to the federation account.
He said: "This has not been addressed adequately and from the account of the corporation, about $20bn was not remitted to the federation account. We need to address this."
Sanusi said that whichever contestant becomes the president needs to focus on people's welfare as this will reduce crime and corruption.
The Emir called on other northern leaders to rise up and speak against the activities of the terror group, Boko Haram, saying he was not afraid to die as a result of his opposition to the sect.
"I have achieved everything that I could achieve; so, what is there to be afraid of?" he said.
Sanusi was the former CBN governor and during the tail-end of his tenure he went against the president over mismanagement of funds.