CBN’s Emefiele loses bid to secure court order to back his presidential ambition

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, refused to shield the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emiefele, from being disqualified to contest for the presidential ticket of any political party ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, earlier on Monday, urged the court to issue an interim order stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from disqualifying him from participating in the primary election of his preferred political party.

But ruling on the ex parte application, the judge, Ahmed Mohammed, ruled that he would rather order INEC and the AGF to appear to state their side of the case instead of granting the CBN governor’s request.

The judge said having read the affidavit in support of the motion, it was more appropriate to direct the defendants to appear in court on May 12, to show cause why Mr Emefiele’s request should not be granted.

The court also ordered that Mr Emefiele’s filings should be served on the defendants before the next hearing date.

Mr Ozekhome filed the ‘ex-parte’ application on May 9 (Monday) for an order of court for maintenance of status quo, fearing that Mr Emefiele might be disqualified from running in the presidential primaries.