Though he has not publicly declared an interest in the 2023 presidential election, the prospective candidacy of Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, continues to excite and attract new converts, and gather traction and support from different demographics across the country and beyond.
It is in line with this that a group under the aegis of Nigerian Professionals in the Diaspora for Emefiele 2023, issued a statement urging the CBN governor not to even dither on declaring for the highest office, assuring him that if it entailed coming back to Nigeria to get their PVCs to be eligible to vote, they would.
The statement, signed by Dr Adeyemi Johnson, a London-based OB-GYN (Obstetrician and Gynaecologist), declared, “We, as professionals, cutting across different professions in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, came together to unanimously lend our voices and names to the groundswell of clamour for Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, to contest for the presidential seat and continue with the good works of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Nigeria needs a healthy, visionary, broad-minded, detribalised and proactive person with a global outlook on the reforms needed to catalyse the Nigerian economy, avers the group, adding that Emefiele ticks all the boxes. “With his dexterous handling of the CBN, and by extension, the Nigerian economy, even during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession, Mr Emefiele has proven to be competent and well-acquitted to steer the affairs of Nigeria. Those saying that he has no political experience are those profiting from the rot in the Nigerian political firmament. Nigeria does not necessarily need a conventional politician with the attendant heavy baggage to get it right and stake a claim for her rightful position in Africa and the world,” the statement declared.
The Diaspora group, which claims to currently have over 100 members in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, stated that it would continue to preach and propagate the gospel of Emefiele across the world and ensure mobilisation for his eventual emergence if he eventually declared. “This is a mission that all of our members have staked our professional integrity and attainments to see come to fruition. At the appropriate time, we shall stage a rally in the United States to drum home our seriousness,” the statement concluded.
