The CBN Governor is the sole plaintiff in the lawsuit, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federation Attorney General responding.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a request by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele to detain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Federation Attorney General (AGF) Abubakar Malami, to prevent him from pursuing his presidential ambitions while serving as head of the top bank. Emefiele had in a lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/610/2022 on May 5 filed requesting the court to declare him eligible to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
In a lawsuit filed through Chairman Mike Ozekhome (SAN), he prayed for a statement that he not bound to resign to participate in the primaries to elect a presidential candidate. The governor of CBN is the sole plaintiff in the lawsuit, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federation Attorney General as respondents. He also prayed that the court would decide whether Article 84(12) of the 2022 Election Law does not conflict with Article 137(1)(G) of the 1999 Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed two days before the CBN governor said he had not yet decided to run for president.
Three support groups are said to have bought him a N100 million All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination form.
Part of the reason for the application reads: “That the plaintiff has aspirations to seek election to the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and participate as a candidate in the upcoming 2023 election. Article 84(12) of the Elections Act, 2022 stipulates that: ‘No political official at any level shall be a voting delegate or be elected at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of nominating any electoral candidate’. “That the plaintiff truly believes that he is not affected by these provisions, because he is not a politically appointed person as envisaged by the provisions of article 84 (12) of the Election Act above, 2022. “That the Central Bank Nigeria is wholly (100 percent) owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, and is therefore a government agency with the intent and purpose of Article 318 of the 1999 Constitution.”
In Monday’s ruling, the court summoned the leadership of INEC and AGF to appear before him on May 12, to show the reasons why the status quo antebellum, should not be granted to the Governor of CBN.
SKJ