Nigerians have reacted to the several Presidential campaign cars branded with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, who have hit social media with a bang, setting tongues wagging.
On Saturday, the CBN governor’s presidential campaign vehicles have surfaced on social media especially on Twitter with a logo of the All Progressives Congress.
The campaign cars branded with Emefiele’s pictures, adorning traditional outfits of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, were seen by Newsflash Nigeria.
On March 26, campaign posters publicising the CBN governor as a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress flooded Eagle Square, during the party’s national convention in Abuja.
Although the central banker is yet to announce that he will be contesting for the party’s ticket, a source familiar with the arrangement told The Gazette that Mr Emefiele has yet to authorise deployment of the campaign vehicles.
“The governor said the vehicles should not be deployed yet because nothing has been cast in stone as far as his running or otherwise is concerned,” said the source under anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak for the governor or the institution.
Mr Emefiele enjoys the support of members of the Igbo ethnic group who believe his tenure as the nation’s central bank governor qualifies him to be Nigeria’s next president.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has repeatedly called for Mr Emefiele’s resignation, affirming that his partisan affiliation and entanglement with the APC violated section 9 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Establishment) Act which provides that “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…”
PDP also accused Mr Emefiele of being the “cash cow” to the Muhammadu Buhari regime, whose reckless borrowing and inability to settle outstanding debt and tackle rising inflation has regressed the nation’s economy.
Mr Emefiele’s refusal to resign from the CBN governorship position to pursue his presidential ambition may be a ricochet effect of Mr Buhari’s request to delete section 84(12) of the Electoral Act which mandated the resignation of political office holders before contesting in any election.
Other political bigwigs who are eyeing the presidential seat include vice president Yemi Osinbajo, Bola Tinubu, Nyesom Wike, Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi, Dele Momodu, Ayo Fayose, among others.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are accusing the CBN governor of using Nigeria’s money to campaign for his presidential aspiration.
A Twitter user, Al Ameen reacted: “The worst CBN Governor in the history of Nigeria wants to contest for President. The same person that killed Naira, helped in destroying our economy and stopped direct bank transfers to crypto wallets. I don’t think there is any reasonable Nigerian that will vote for Godwin Emefiele.”
According to Ustadh Jake, “It’s actually insane that a CBN Governor is planning to run under a political party and he’s still a CBN Governor This is ridiculous, we have an institutional problem in this country.”
As for Udoh, “This is a CBN Governor engaging in big-time politics! This is indeed unbelievable!#Emefiele must resign now#”
Ikenga of Africa wrote: “Why isn’t Emefiele distancing himself from this? Is it normal for his posters and branded campaign cars to be flying around like a sitting CBN governor?”
Lloyd Manasseh E. Agbonlahor added: “Soludo’s time as CBN Governor, he did exceptionally well far beyond what Emefiele has and will do. I just wonder what Emefiele thinks he has done as CBN Governor to deserve to be Nigeria’s President.”
Galileo said: “Godwin Emefiele should resign as the governor of the CBN. This desecration of the constitution should STOP. Since he has decided to be partisan, he has lost the moral TENACITY to still be presiding as the CBN governor. Enough of this nonsense. Enough!”
According to Qudus, “This shouldn’t be coming from our CBN Governor even if he is being sponsored. Godwin Emefiele should resign or tell people involved in this to stop till he resigns. With this, we can say Nigeria volt is not in safe hands.”
