The Presidential aspiration of the Central Bank Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele is threatening the partnership between INEC and the Central Bank.
Nigerians have called for Emefiele’s resignation insisting that he cannot be an aspirant and at the same time run the apex bank and also keep sensitive materials for the election.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Oyekanmi, in the statement he issued in Abuja, stated that the commission would take action concerning sensitive materials which were being kept in the custody of CBN during elections.
He was reacting to the observation made by some critics including a human rights lawyer, Ebun-Oluwa Adegboruwa, on the implication of Emefiele’s ambition.
Adegboruwa had in a statement titled: ‘The comedy of Emefiele’s case’, raised the alarm over the safety of INEC materials in CBN vaults.
Oyekanmi said, “The strategic partnership between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission which enables the commission to store its sensitive election materials with the CBN, has been in place for many years and beneficial in several ways.
“Indeed, there have been various reports that the CBN governor is nursing an intention to run for the office of President. But, he has yet to formally declare his intention to run for the office of president as of today.
“However, if and when he eventually does, the commission will look at the implications and take a decision on what becomes of the long-standing strategic partnership with the CBN.”
Adegboruwa said, “By the decision of the Supreme Court in Akinlade v INEC, there is no competent suit filed by Mr. Emefiele pending before the court for adjudication.
“The affidavit in support of the originating summons and indeed the affidavit of urgency were both deposed to by counsel on his behalf, in flagrant violation of Rule 20 of RPC.
“An originating summons cannot be determined in the Federal High Court without a competent affidavit in support thereof.
“By his status, Emefiele is an employee of the CBN. Any case to determine his status or eligibility should be filed at the National Industrial Court. So long as Emefiele earns a salary as a CBN employee, he should not dream of contesting the election while still holding on to his office. It is an insult to our collective psyche as a people.
“Sensitive election materials are always kept in CBN offices nationwide by INEC, unknown to Nigerians that Emefiele as Governor of CBN had been a politician all his life.
“The political party that owns the presidential ticket that Emefiele wants to grab is not a party in his court case, contrary to extant laws and practice.”
Emefiele’s participation paints picture of tainted elections – NBA
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the NBA, Dr. Rapulu Nduka, in a chat with The PUNCH, said the CBN governor’s involvement in politics had tainted the election process.
He said, “In as much as I don’t want to speak on the issue of the suit because it is already in court, I think that common sense will dictate that if a document or sensitive electoral materials are in the custody of someone and the person is also contesting an election, it speaks volume. Even if the person is righteous, has integrity, and is strict when it comes to keeping the materials, it still paints the picture that the process is tainted.
On the issue of whether Emefiele should contest or not, the NBA Spokesperson said, “I’ll leave it to the court to decide since a suit has been filed already.”
Asked if the NBA would like to be joined in the suit as a defendant, he said, “I believe that all the parties will do a good job in trying to hold their positions. So, I don’t think the presence of the NBA will make any difference or make whatever the Court decides to be skewed in one way or the other. The only thing is that everyone is watching, the whole world is watching. The judges are actually also on trial because everyone is waiting to hear and to see what they will make as their decision. The NBA will not be a part of the suit but we are also watching.”
