New information has come out about why Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, dropped his lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation because he wanted to run for president.
According to a source, Emefiele dropped the case because he and President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.) had agreed that he should keep his job as CBN governor and forget about the Presidency.
The source said, “Emefiele told his lawyers to end the case, and the lawyer did what Emefiele asked. He told his lawyers to handle the situation, and the lawyer did what his client asked.
“The lawyers have dropped the case. I think that’s because he and President Muhammadu Buhari agreed that he should stay as Governor of CBN instead of running for President.
“When they stopped it, the person who wanted to join, Martin Aikpokpo, asked the court to throw out the case and pay him N1 million. The court said no.
“Justice Ahmed Mohammed turned down the request, and the AGF’s request for N1 million in costs was also turned down by the court. So, the court just threw out the case without deciding how much it would cost.
Emefiele asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the defendants from stopping or making it hard for him to take part in the process of the presidential election, which is set to happen in February of next year.
He had said that he was afraid that any political party he joined to reach his political goals could disqualify him because of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which said that political appointees couldn’t take part in the conventions and congresses of political parties unless they resigned 30 days before.
He said that Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, could not stop him from voting in the All Progressives Congress primaries because he worked for the government.
He had said that the constitution said he couldn’t quit his job as Governor of CBN until 30 days before the presidential election he wanted to run for.
He filed several court documents, including an application for the maintenance of status. In it, he said that he would be hurt or harmed if the court didn’t stop the defendants from doing anything that would hurt his chances of running for president.
Dr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Emefiele’s lawyer earlier said that Emefiele would only resign for moral reasons and not for legal reasons.
He said, though, that Buhari and the CBN governor would decide if he should quit.
- Tags: 2023 Elections, APC, Godwin Emefiele
