…I will buy with my money, CBN tells supporters
By Myke Uzendu, Abuja.
The main opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the arrest of Godwin Emefiele over the purchase of N100m Presidential Form while still enjoying the paraphernalia of the office of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The party in a press conference on Saturday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba said that it had raised alarm since March 25th that Emefiele has compromised his office and is in bed with the ruling Alll Progressives Congress despite the provions of the law that prohibits him from doing such.
The party quoting the provisions of the CBN Act 2007, Section 9 said, “the Governor and the Deputy Governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the bank and while holding office, shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation, whether remunerated or not…”
According to PDP, the CBN Governor and Deputy Governors shall be dedicated to the service of the CBN because their job is very critical to the nation and any partisan interest can lead to the free fall of the naira as has been witnessed lately.
“Furthermore, Section 030422 of the Public Service Rule states that no public officer shall (a) “hold any office, paid or unpaid, permanent or temporary, in any political organization”, (b) offer himself/herself or nominate anyone else as a candidate for any elective public office…”, (c) “indicate publicly his support of or opposition to any party, candidate or policy and (d) “engage in canvassing in support of political candidates” unless such officer resigns his appointment.
“Importantly, Section 030502 (g) of the Rule lists “engaging in partisan political activities’ as Seroud Act of Misconduct.
“Emefiele’s involvement in politics without resigning as CBN Governor therefore amounts to gross misconduct in contravention of Section 11 2 (2)(c) of the CBN Act.
‘Now that Mr. Emefiele has joined politics and reportedly obtained the N100 million Presidential aspirant form from the APC, he cannot continue to resume at the CBN which is the commonwealth of our nation.
“By this Mr. Emefiele has become a clear and present danger to the health, integrity and reputation of the CBN and our nation’s financial sector. His continued stay as CBN Governor will further destroy investors’ confidence in the integrity of our nation’s financial regulatory Institution.
“Mr. Emefiele’s involvement in partisan politics while still holding office as CBN Governor underpins the impunity, lawlessness and recklessness of the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration. It further confirms that the CBN under Emefiele has all along been the finance department of the APC” the party maintained..
The opposition party alleged that the summersault of the economy under Mr. Emefiele as CBN Governor has been influenced by his partisan interest and he allegedly allowed multiple leakages in the financial regulations through discriminatory exchange rate policies and nebulous subsidies to funnel billons of naira to political lackies to fund his presidential ambition.
He said that Emefiele through the CBN has continued to engage in fraudulent retail banking services under ill-defined economic intervention programmes to plunder the treasury.
“The tsunamic macro-economic and fiscal policies of the CBN under Emefiele brought untold hardship to the productive and service sectors of our nation’s economy with consequential negative effect on the lives of our citizens.
“It is provocative that instead of being remorseful, Mr. Emefiele is even insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians by seeking the office of the President while still holding office as CBN Governor”.
Meanwhile the CBN governor has rejected the APC Presidential Form procured for him by Rice farmers.
In a series of tweets on Saturday in his verified twiiter handle, Emefiele thanked those who bought the forms for him, saying if he decides to contest, he would use his personal resources to procure the forms.He added that he would take a decision in the days ahead.“I am humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President in the 2023 general elections: I have not come to that decision. I note and salute the sacrifices of those farmers and patriots going as far as raising personal funds and offering me Presidential Nomination Forms: I thank them most profusely.”
“However, Should I answer their calls and decide to seek presidential nomination, I will use my own hard-earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own Nomination Forms, without proxies in an open and transparent manner in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“And should I not run for elected office, I will continue to serve and sacrifice for the good people of Nigeria under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention: in the next few days The Almighty will so direct.”
