…as court declines request to restrain respondents
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele on Monday failed in his bid to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from disqualifying him from participating in the 2023 presidential election until the determination of his suit against them.
Ruling in Emefiele’s application, Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court, Abuja declined to order the maintenance of the status quo as prayed by Emefiele’s lawyer.
In the suit filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), the CBN governor is challenging the legal status of Section 84(12) of the amended Electoral Act and to prevent its application to him in his aspiration to contest the next presidential election.
The legal team said it wanted the court to make a pronouncement that “validly participate in the primary election of any political party and is entitled to vote and be voted for as candidate of any political party of his choice, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for the election to the office of President or any other office under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended”.
The team went further to urge the Court to “stopping the defendants (INEC and the AGF), from stopping or prejudicing the Plaintiff from participating, voting or being voted for at the congress or convention of any political party of his choice, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for the election to the office of President or any other office under the Constitution”.
His team also asked, “Whether the provisions of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which are inconsistent with the provisions of section 137(1) (G) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which have been declared so by a court of competent jurisdiction, can be relied upon by the defendants to disqualify the plaintiff from contesting election to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or from contesting or participating in the parties’ primaries or other convention or congress for the purpose of election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, scheduled for 25th February 2023”.
They also want the court to also determine, whether by provisions of section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, “a political party can by its constitution, guidelines or rules, impose any nomination qualification or disqualification criteria measure, conditions on any aspirant or candidate including the Plaintiff herein, in its primaries or constitution, guidelines or rules for nomination of its candidates for election besides those criteria as prescribed under section 65, 66, 1067, 107, 131, 137, 177 and 187 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.
And also “Whether by the combined effect of the provisions of section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and section 137(1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which require a public officer to resign, withdraw or retire from his employment at least 30 days before the date of the presidential election, the plaintiff can be mandated and/or compelled to resign, withdraw or retire his position as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria earlier than 30 days to the political party primary or presidential election as prescribed by section 137 (10 (g) Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, which presidential election is scheduled to take place about February 2023, while the primaries are fixed for 30th May and 1st June, 2022”.
They also sought a declaration by the court whether by the provision of section 137(I) (g) and 318of the 1999 Constitution, he could be regarded as a political appointee within the meaning and intendment of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Ozekhome and his team argued that in view of the urgency of the case, the court should direct all relevant authorities to maintain status quo ante Bellum (allow things to remain the way they were before the suit was filed) pending the determination of the suit.
“The motion is seeking that the court should grant an order for maintenance of status quo. Let my lord not allow anybody to do anything,” Ozekhome said.
“By Wednesday, 11 May, 2022, the timeline for collecting the form for the expression of interest will expire.
“The timeline for the congresses and conventions of the political parties for the presidential election, which he is interested in, comes up on the 30 May.
Responding further, Justice Mohammed ordered that the defendants be put on notice of the motion for them to respond by showing cause why the prayers sought by the plaintiff should not be granted.
“Having listened to the learned senior advocate and having read the affidavit in support, an order is hereby made directing the defendants to appear on 12 May (12pm) and show cause why the motion ex-parte seeking maintenance of status quo should not be granted by this court.
“An order is made to serve the court processes on the defendants.”
In the four-point affidavit submitted by the Ozekhome’s Chambers, they declared that the CBN governor has an interest in becoming Nigeria’s next president, and so desires to participate in the next presidential election.
The affidavit further declared “That the facts deposed to herein be within my personal knowledge except as otherwise stated, and was duly informed by the plaintiff, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
“That the plaintiff is a Nigerian citizen, economist, banker, and financial expert who has been serving as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria since June 4, 2014.
“That the plaintiff aspires to seek election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and participate as a candidate in the upcoming 2023 presidential elections.”
On Friday, Emefiele had declared in a tweet that he was waiting for divine guidance to determine whether he should run for the presidency come 2023. This followed the purchase for him of the presidential nomination form of the ruling All Progressives Congress by a group of farmers. The group claimed that the policies of the central bank under the leadership of Emefiele had positively impacted their lives.
