Festus Ogun, a human rights lawyer, has told President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
This was in response to a report that the All Progressives Congress Expression of Interest and Nomination forms had been bought for Emefiele by his supporters to contest the 2023 presidential election. A coalition comprising the Rice Farmers Association, Emefiele Support Group and Friends of Godwin on Friday were said to have purchased the forms for him.
The CBN governor had earlier denied having an interest in the presidency but has been mute on the collection of forms.
Ogun expressed fear that Nigeria’s treasury was no longer safe in the hands of Emefiele and the president should look into this immediately.
He said, “CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has picked the APC N100m presidential nomination and expression of interest form. Clearly, this is illegal, morally reprehensible and weakens whatever is left of our institutions.
“Section 9 of the CBN Act, 2007 provides that ‘the governor and the deputy governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the bank, and while holding office, shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation, whether remunerated or not’.
“Politics is a vocation and the CBN Governor is not allowed by law to engage in partisan politics. It is unthinkable that Emefiele, despite his embarrassing failures, will disregard law and morality to vie for President under the ruling APC. Our national vault is no longer safe.
“Mr. Godwin Emefiele must immediately resign his position as CBN Governor to save our country from this unthinkable absurdity. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must immediately commence a thorough investigation into Emefiele’s period in office.
“Finally, I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke his statutory powers under Section 11(2) of the CBN Act to sack Emefiele. The National Assembly and civil society organizations are equally enjoined to intervene in this peculiar institutional desecration. All is not well.”
