Conference of Nigeria Political Parties insists Emefiele be sacked

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties has demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari sacks Godwin Emiefele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, over his involvement in politics.

Chief Willy Ezugwu, the Secretary General of the group, and the National Secretary for the CSOs, Ali Abacha, speaking during a press briefing held alongside the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations, insisted that Emefiele’s involvement in politics was in clear violation of the Public Service rules and the CBN Act.

The group said that if President Buhari, fails to sack Emefiele, it would persuade serving judicial officers to pick up nomination forms from political parties of their choice,.

“Their intention was to course breach of the peace as a licence for security agencies to give the protesters the #EndSARS treatment. In this light, the hired hoodlums were to sneak into the crowd of protesters and attack the CBN headquarters with weapons while a counter-protest was also arranged for the same day.

“Our findings revealed that Mr Godwin Emefiele joined the APC and became a card-carrying member of the party in 2019, which proved that the CBN governor’s presidential ambition was premeditated and had been in his plans before 2019 when he eventually joined partisan politics.

“This is contrary to Mr Godwin Emefiele’s position that his focus was on his job at the CBN.

“Emefiele’s declaration for president is in clear violation of the Public Service rules and the CBN Act.

“In line with the establishment of the CBN by law as an independent bank by virtue of Section 1 (3) of the CBN Act, its governor should be non-partisan but here we have a card-carrying member of APC since 2019 as governor of Nigeria’s apex bank and financial regulatory institution.

“In the light of the above, we maintain our position that Mr Godwin Emefiele must resign before seeking nomination as a presidential aspirant and before participating in APC presidential primaries and that in line with the CBN Act, Mr Emefiele must show evidence that he has submitted his letter of resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari three months before the date of purchase of his nomination forms which are in his name.

“If Mr President allows this impunity to continue, we then call on all judges, justices and judicial officers to pick up their nomination forms from political parties of their choice,” the group stated.