Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission before a Federal High sitting in Abuja over alleged plans by the electoral umpire to disqualify him from participating in the presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress scheduled for May ending.
Emefiele joined INEC and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation as respondents in the suit.
INEC had announced a June 3 deadline for political parties to submit their candidates for the 2023 elections.
Last Friday, some groups had announced the purchase of the N100million expression of interest and nomination forms of the APC for the CBN governor.
The development had drawn flaks from many Nigerians who demanded Emefiele’s resignation as the CBN governor.
Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had described the development as “a joke taken too far”, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Emefiele if he refused to resign from office.
Lawyers and critics, who cited Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, had declared Emefiele unfit to contest the APC presidential primaries and to run for the nation’s presidency in 2023.
According to the section, 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.
But Emefiele’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, has argued that the CBN governor is more or less a civil servant and by provision of the constitution, he’s only expected to resign from office one month before the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Ozekhome also argued that a Federal High Court sitting in Abia State had already nullified that section of the Electoral Act.
Emefiele had last Saturday rejected the presidential forms bought for him, explaining that he would rather buy the N100million forms with his personal resources if he had interest in the 2023 presidential race.
The CBN governor had added that God would decide for him “in the next few days” regarding his participation in the 2023 presidential contest.
