Ahead of the 2023 presidential race, three different groups have purchased the All Progressives Congress (APC) Expression of Interest and Nomination Form for the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The groups, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Friends of Emefiele and Emefiele Support Group, said Emefiele is the only responsible and responsive person to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari at the 2023 general election.
The forms were procured for the CBN boss for N100 million on Thursday in Abuja.
However, the CBN governor has not officially indicated interest in running for presidency.
Emefiele had said that he was focused on strengthening the nation’s economy amid calls by supporters that he should contest for the nation’s topmost office in 2023.
According to the groups, Nigeria is passing through a lot of economic and security challenges, and the parties and electorates must bring in experience, dynamism, energy, equity and fairness in the choice of who becomes the next President of Nigeria.
Expressing the reason for their push for Emefiele, they said the CBN governor’s tenure as head of the Nigeran apex bank, has shown capacity, focus, courage and worked tirelessly with the economic team of President Mohammadu Buhari to keep the economy of our great country afloat above recession and outright collapse.
Other aspirants of the APC presidential tickets are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, State Minister for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige, former Imo governor, Rochas Okorocha, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and former Abia governor and serving senator, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State are also in the race.I
However, in his role as Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele emerges as the unflappable fixer. He fixes both social and political economies. Emefiele belongs to the class of men that are regarded as the salt of the earth; with him at the helm of affairs, the CBN has evolved into something more than a burnt cauldron. It is no longer the stagnant pool of toxic and regressive banking culture.
On Emefiele’s watch, commercial banking has evolved to perform more progressive roles; banks have learnt to abide by the rules and compete without venom, and erstwhile subverting forex operators have been cut to size. Not only has he introduced progressive reforms and innovations into the banking industry, he also serves the role of a guardian and model leader.
Bolstered by his resolve to excel and sanitise the nation’s banking sector, his unyielding spirit has paid off. It has seen Nigeria through the teething and oft tumultuous stages of pandemic-induced distress to more promising clime.
There are but very few administrators like Godwin Emefiele. To this end, concerned patriots believe he could commit his brilliance and vibrant magnetism to transcend banking and economics, and fix Nigeria.
Emefiele is that super candidate whose outward and innate appeal transcends tribe, age, gender, and cultic cabals; ultimately, he embodies sterling genius and administrative depth, thus furnishing a dynamic lens through which to view progressive economics and professional excellence.
Any political party worth its salt is always on the lookout for converts. But no one in the political space today brings the level of missionary zeal to the task that Godwin Emefiele does. From the southwest, southeast, southsouth, northwest to northeast, groups of patriots have been cheerfully and passionately clearing a path for Emefiele’s candidacy in the 2023 presidential elections, in the likeliest and unlikeliest precincts.
Though he has not publicly declared an interest in the 2023 presidential election, the prospective candidacy of Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, continues to excite and attract new converts.
The CBN chief’s candidacy has been garnering traction and support from different demographics across the country and beyond.
No doubt, heroes and comets have been reverenced for the same reason Godwin Emefiele is enjoying political idolatry. At the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s national convention in Abuja, the clouds parted as the heavens heaved to vet Emefiele’s candidacy for the party’s presidential ticket, en route to the 2023 elections.
For incontestable reasons, the incumbent Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stands the best chance of giving the APC victory at the forthcoming elections, if he is given the party’s presidential ticket.
This much was discernible in the massive support and campaign for an Emefiele presidential ticket at the recently concluded APC national convention at Eagle Square, in Abuja.
At the event, lovers of the CBN governor from all walks of life and ethnicity campaigned openly, demanding that APC gives him the mandate to represent the party at the 2023 presidential elections.
The venue of the event was flooded with campaign posters of Emefiele while Arewa, Yoruba, Igbo, Tiv, Nupe, Urhobo, Itsekiri groups, to mention a few, passionately campaign for the CBN governor, tenacious in their belief that he is the next best thing to happen to Nigeria’s economic and political space in a long while.
Most emphatic and inspiring were their sustained chants thus dominating the APC convention, and making it an epic vote of confidence in the abilities of Emefiele to lead Nigeria.
Many of Emefiele’s key qualities are encapsulated in that key moment: his matchless genius, his sterling service, a soft voice and melodic accent, fierce determination, outstanding intuition, intimate knowledge of banking and economics, and calling a spade a spade without putting any of his cards on the table.
Emefiele hasn’t won APC’s presidential ticket yet, but he has won many battles. He is among the most astute of technocrats, the best among Nigeria’s public office leaders.
By many quantitative metrics, Emefiele may pass as the most unconventional Nigerian politician who would assume the presidential office. He epitomises a rare phenomenon seizing the political arena, less by his devices and more by the initiative of individuals and groups eager to put Nigeria’s leadership in the hands of the best man for the job.
