The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele’s alleged involvement in politics has attracted more strong condemnations within and outside the country.
Senior lawyers and other eminent Nigerians have equally called for his immediate resignation.
A former Assistant Director at the CBN, Prof Jonathan Aremu, said any political participation by the CBN governor could compromise the integrity of the central bank.
He noted that should the CBN governor decide to get involved in politics, he must resign.
“I am not going to quote the specifics of the CBN Act, but I will give you an objective view of this. Because of the special importance of the central bank, I don’t think it is right for the CBN governor to be political. It is important to have a monetary policy that is relatively seen to be objective because governments come and go.
“If you want to go into politics, for the relative independence of the CBN, then you have to leave the position. When people lose confidence in issues of money, it tends to be a serious issue. In some countries, central bank governors disagree with presidents and resign,” said Aremu.
Senior lawyers and top politicians stated that Emefiele’s continuous stay as the CBN governor was dangerous to the economy.
A SAN, Babatunde Ogala said it was inappropriate for a CBN governor to be involved in politics, adding that Emefiele “should resign now or be removed.”
On whether it was within Emefiele’s rights to run for office, Ogala said, “That means Chairman of INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector-General of Police can also pick up forms and decide to run. It is immoral and a joke taken too far. He shouldn’t ridicule our country. Where is that done?
“The CBN governor, the one who is supposed to manage our treasury, is getting himself distracted by politics. It is inappropriate. Emefiele should resign now. If he wants to join politics, let him go into politics. He shouldn’t sit down as the head of the treasury and be talking politics when he should be concentrating. That means he’s a card-carrying member of a political party. It’s unacceptable.”
When brought to his notice that Emefiele is a card-carrying member of the APC, Ogala called for the immediate resignation of the CBN governor.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, kicked against the alleged presidential ambition of the CBN governor.
Adegboruwa, who stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday, stressed that his action was also not in tandem with his position as the governor of the CBN.
He noted, “Under Section 1 of the CBN Act, the governor of the central bank ought to maintain the autonomy and independence of the financial institution in order to subject itself to political manipulations.
“If the CBN governor is interested in partisan politics, he has to give up the position as the governor of the regulatory and apex bank in Nigeria. This is because his action will throw the autonomy of the CBN under political influence.
“As a member of the APC, Mr Emefiele is under the national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu. As a member of the party, he is also under the secretary of the party, Iyiola Omisore. How does a person regulating the activities of banks become a servant to politicians, who have disputes with these banks and have loans hanging on their necks?
“Also, Under Section 6 of the CBN Act, the person occupying the position of the governor should not pursue any vocation that will result in a conflict of interest.
Therefore, pursuing presidential ambition is in conflict with his position as the governor of CBN.”
But Lekan Ojo, SAN, argued that there were constitutional provisions for public officeholders who wanted to contest public offices and the constitution makes allowance till 180 days before general elections to tender his resignation.
“The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is also in a public office position and the constitution requires that people in such office should tender their resignation 180 days before the election dates.
There is no provision in the constitution that states that he cannot contest an electoral position, it only states that such must resign.
“Also, the law did not state that he must resign before picking the nomination form or before the primaries, it only states that 180 days before the elections.”
Ojo noted that although there was a provision of the electoral act that stipulated that public office holders running for political positions must immediately resign their appointments, however, the case was still in court and all things remained as they were until the case would be decided by the court.
“On the other side, there is an Electoral Act, 2022 that is currently in court. In the act, there is the precedence of the view that a person holding a government office should resign his or her appointment within a particular period before contesting an election or before the date of an election.”
The SAN also added that outside of the provisions of the constitution and legal perspective, he believes it is morally right for Emeifele to resign.
“Outside of the law, on moral grounds, it is honourable for him to resign because the position he is occupying is a very sensitive position and he is expected to be apolitical. So, if we look at it from that perspective, it’s wise for him or anyone in such a public office to resign while contesting for a political office.”
