Port Harcourt — The race for Aso Villa is getting “curiouser and curiouser” by the day, and it is a fitting description of the unusual (or strange?) things that are happening in the Nigerian political terrain as was the case in the classic novel Alice in Wonderland. First, the field for the plum job is crowded. The PDP has cleared 15 aspirants to head to the congress of the party that will pick the flagbearer while the list of APC candidates was 12 at the last count. Second, the cost of picking nomination forms is so high that Nigerians imagine the race is a parade of millionaires if not billionaires. The PDP pegged its fee at N40 million while the APC charged N100 million. There was a public outcry against the APC figure, and we thought that will make a ruling party that says it is serious about fighting corruption, reduce the amount, but no, it stays. And mind you there is no refund in this business.
The fever around the presidential poll is to be expected, but I didn’t expect the latest entrant to the race, the current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele. I use the word “current” deliberately to highlight that the man is still in his job (at least as I write this piece.) I’ve been around for sometime and this is the first time I’m seeing a serving Governor of CBN take to the hustings. The first indication of his ambition came from posters in Abuja, but this should not have worried anybody. I was about the only Nigerian whose face didn’t adorn one poster or the other announcing an ambition! The man himself didn’t help matters. When asked to confirm the rumours, he said he would leave his fate firmly in God’s hands. Haba! His name may be Godwin, but when did he become a preacher?
I was therefore shocked when news came in that Mr. Emefiele picked the N100-million nomination form of APC on Friday 6th May 2022. I mention the date so you can confirm. The man’s taciturnity was on full display again as journalists tried to reach his camp for a reaction. A leader of the Emefiele Mobilisation Team, Attah Jacob, simply said on the line with a journalist “Glory to God.” What’s wrong with these people? I wouldn’t have thought that a demanding job like managing the monetary policies of Nigeria will leave anyone room to seek a political office. I’m not alone in the thinking. The PDP has cried foul over Mr. Emefiele’s bid but you may dismiss it as typical opposition party politics. But the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu has also stepped in. He issued a statement calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Mr. Emefiele for picking the APC form if he refuses to resign. Mr. Akeredolu’s stance is significant for many reasons. He is a lawyer, in fact, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who was President of the Nigerian Bar Association 2008. He belongs to the ruling APC and it seems he has decided to put his country before his party.
Before I’m misunderstood, I need to state that Mr. Emefiele has the right to aspire to the highest office in the land, as he is eminently qualified for the job. Armed with degrees in Banking and Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the 60-year old Delta State indigene spent 26 years in the banking sector, rising to the position of Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank. He became the 11th Governor of the CBN when he took over from Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in 2014. Mr. Akeredolu said on his opposition to his bid for the Presidency while still in office as CBN boss, “The combined effect of the Public Service Rules, CBN Act and the 1999 Constitution, as amended, exposes not only the oddity inherent in this brash exercise of presumed right to associate. It also confirms the illegality of the act should he proceed to submit the forms while occupying the seat as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Let me say what I think. Mr. Emefiele is dancing to drumbeats we’re not yet hearing. I’m willing to bet that the man did not just wake up to pick the form. He is smarter than that. Reports have it that rice farmers across the country contributed and paid the N100 million for the man. Mr. Emefiele is from Ika in Agbor. Their dialect is a derivative of Igbo. His middle name, Ifeanyi is Igbo. This man has South South and South East blood flowing in his veins so will he be the compromise candidate that will satisfy the yearnings for a president from these two geopolitical zones? Is this the man? I repeat I’m willing to bet that this man wouldn’t have found the temerity to gun for this post without some people in Aso Villa giving their approval. I’m talking of the man there now. If Mr. Emefiele is not sacked (and is giving the freedom to resign) he MAY become the man.
Follow us on twitter
