Declare me eligible to run for presidency without resigning as CBN governor, Emefiele tells court

Godwin Emefiele has asked a court to declare that he can contest for the presidential ticket of any political party while serving as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In the suit he filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on May 5, Mr Emefiele, through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, no law exempted him from contesting the primary election of any political party as a sitting CBN governor.

“The plaintiff is legally competent to contest the primaries of any political parties while still serving as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in so far as he gives 30 days’ notice of his resignation, withdrawal from the services of the CBN as its governor in accordance with the provisions of section 167 and 318 of the constitution,” the plaintiff’s lawyer said.

Pressure has mounted on Mr Emefiele to step down from office since the information about his presidential ambition leaked to the public earlier this year.

In February, a PREMIUM TIMES editorial called on Mr Emefiele to resign and pursue his political ambition, if he had any, or publicly distance himself from groups clamouring for him to contest the forthcoming presidential election scheduled

Mr Emefiele spoke for the first time on his reported plan to run for the presidency in the forthcoming 2023 election on Saturday.

He spoke after reports that a group had purchased the N100 million worth of presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for him.

He said, although he had yet to decide to contest the presidential election, should he heed the call to run for the presidency, he would use his “own hard-earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own Nomination Forms”.

In his suit confirming his political ambition, Mr Emefiele sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation asking the court to restrain them from compelling him to resign as the CBN governor to run for office in 2023.

His lawyer, Mr Ozekhome, expressed fears that the INEC and the AGF are making “frantic efforts to disqualify” Mr Emefiele “from participating in the presidential primaries scheduled for June 3 2022, for not resigning from his office before the parties primaries.”

Prayers

He, therefore, prayed among others, an order that he “cannot be hindered, stopped or precluded from participating, voting or being voted for at the congress or convention of any political party of his choice for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for the election to the office of President or any other office under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”

He also sought another order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants (INEC and AGF) “from hindering, stopping or precluding the plaintiff from participating, voting or being voted for at the congress or convention of any political party of his choice for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for the election to the office of the President or any other office under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”

According to court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said: “The plaintiff in any event being a public officer is governed by section 318 of the constitution and not the said section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

He urged the court to declare that the provisions of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended), allegedly being relied on by INEC and the AGF to disqualify him to contest primary elections “are inconsistent with the provisions of section 137(1}{a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) which and have been declared so by a court of competent jurisdiction.”

He also urged the court to declare that he is only subject to the provisions of section 137(1) (g) and 348 of the Nigerian Constitution “which require a public officer seeking election into a political office to resign, withdraw or retire from his appointment at least 30 days to the presidential election, rather than by the provisions of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 or the guidelines, rules, criteria, measures or conditions made by the plaintiff’s political party or any political party. “

Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court is set to the hear the case on Monday.