2023: Emefiele sues INEC, AGF over plan to disqualify him

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja over the alleged plan to disqualify him from the 2023 presidential primaries slated for the end of May.

The Star had reported that three interest groups, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Friends of Emefiele, and Emefiele Support Group, on Friday, obtained the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) valued at N100 million for Emefiele to run for the 2023 presidency.

The purchase of the N100 million APC presidential nomination forms was however greeted with wide condemnations, including the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, who called for the sack of the CBN Governor if he failed to resign.

Governor Akeredolu, who described Emefiele’s interest in the 2023 presidency as “a joke taken too far”, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the CBN Governor if he refused to resign.

In his reaction, Emefiele rejected the APC presidential nominations form bought for him to vie for the presidential ticket of the APC ahead of the 2023 general election.

The CBN Governor, who reacted via a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle on Saturday, said that, should he decide to contest the 2023 presidential election, he would use his own hard-earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy his own presidential nomination forms.

He noted that he would make a decision on the calls to contest the next year’s presidential election in a few days, adding that it is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention.

Some legal practitioners and critics, however, argued that Emefiele was unfit to contest the 2023 presidential election going by Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act.

The section read: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

However, Emefiele, in a suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, argued that he is more or less a civil servant and by provision of the constitution, he is expected to resign a month before the February 25, 2023, presidential election.

He further argued that a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, had nullified that section of the Electoral Act.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) were joined in the suit.

It would be recalled that INEC had given political parties a deadline of June 3, 2022, to submit their candidates for the 2023 general election.

The Star