Court rejects Emefiele’s request to contest Presidency while still CBN’s governor
A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected the request of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele’s, to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, from preventing him from contesting in the 2023 Presidential election while in office as the head of the apex bank.
Emefiele through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, had on Monday morning filed a suit against INEC and the AGF.The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/610/2022 asked the court to declare him eligible to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
Emefiele asked the court to decide if Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 is not inconsistent with Section 137 (1)(G) of the 1999 Constitution. The court in its ruling summoned INEC leadership and AGF to appear before it on May 12, to show cause on why status quo antebellum, should not be granted to the CBN Governor.
Part of the grounds of the application reads: “That the plaintiff has aspiration to seek election to the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and participate as a candidate in the upcoming 2023 elections.
“That section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that: ‘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’.
“That the plaintiff verily believes that he is not affected by these provisions, as he is not a political appointee as envisaged by the above provisions of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“That the Central Bank of Nigeria is entirely (100 per cent) owned by the Nigerian Federal Government, and therefore constitutes a government agency with the meaning and intendment of Section 318 of 1999 Constitution.”
