Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, has called on the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, to quit his job, saying “he cannot combine partisan politics with the very delicate assignment of his office”.
Adding: “Should he refuse to quit, it becomes incumbent on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to remove him forthwith. This is a joke taken too far.”
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Emefiele obtained the presidential nomination form of All Progressives Congress (APC).
Calling on the President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the CBN Governor, Akeredolu, in a statement he signed on Friday, said Emefiele’s purported action, “if unchecked timeously portends great danger to the fragile economy of the country.”
The governor said, “It is incontrovertible that Mr Emefiele enjoys a constitutionally protected right to belong to any group or association and participate fully, just as any Nigerian. It is, however, difficult to imagine that a person who occupies the exalted and sensitive office of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria will be this brazen in actualizing his ambition.
“There is no gain asserting the obvious. 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.”
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Debo Ologunagba, noted that the CBN Act clearly stated that the governor and deputy governors of the bank must be fully dedicated to their jobs.
Ologunagba berated the ruling APC and the President for promoting impunity and refusing to force Emefiele to leave office.
He added, “The CBN governor is governed by the CBN Act. Section 9 is unambiguously clear about what the CBN governor and deputies should do and it says they shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the bank and they will not engage in any other vocation.
“Now, his action is completely in contravention of that Act and that amounts to gross misconduct and that qualifies him to be removed from office in line with Section 11 of the Act. This is completely irresponsible and at variance with our laws.”
The PDP spokesman said it was unfortunate that the CBN governor, who ought to be focused on the nation’s monetary policy, had the time to engage in partisan politics, adding that it was time for Nigerians to vote in the PDP to restore order.