Judiciary
By Anthony Isibor.
GODWIN Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has sued the federal government and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over their attempt to stop him from pursuing his presidential ambition, while still in office as the CBN Governor.
The order, which was applied through Mike Ozekhome, SAN, Emefiele’s counsel on Monday, is seeking an order of a Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the federal government from removing him from office over his presidential ambition pending the hearing and determination of the substantive matter.
The CBN governor made the prayers in an ex-parte motion dated and filed on May 9 by Ozekhome, seeking an order of maintenance of status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit
The case, which is already before the Abuja judicial division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, has INEC as the 1st defendant, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, is the 2nd defendant, is also praying Justice Ahmed Mohammed to stop INEC from taking any action against him in the bid to contest in the presidential primary by virtue of his office.
Moving the motion, Ozekhome said though his client had not told him under which political party he would love to contest, the application became necessary in order for the court to determine the constitutionality of his (Emefiele’s) decision.
According to the document entitled ‘Affidavit of urgency’ in support of the motion, which is sighted by Realnews, the Plaintiff; Emefiele, has read through the several court processes and is thus fully seized of the facts stated below, which are facts as contained in the several court processes filed by the various parties in the process leading to this suit
“That the Plaintiff is a public officer who is being daily called upon to seek election to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under any political party, and participate as a candidate in the upcoming 2023 presidential elections fixed for 25th February, 2023.
“That the parties’ presidential primaries are scheduled to hold on or about the 30th of May and 1st of June, 2022.
“That it is already less than 30 days to the party’s scheduled presidential primaries.
“That the Plaintiff has brought this suit to urgently challenge the attempt to disqualify and exclude him from participating in the parties’ presidential primaries scheduled to hold on or about the 30th of May and 1st of June, 2022.
“That unless this suit is urgently assigned, with the time for taking steps and filing of processes in the suit abridged by this Honourable Court, and the suit urgently determined, irreparable damage will be done to the Plaintiff, in that he would be barred from participating in the said parties presidential primaries taking place in less than a month’s time.
“That unless this suit is timeously heard before the imminent events of the primaries, it would foist on this Honourable Court a situation of fait accompli and complete helplessness and there would be nothing left for the court to decide.
“That it is necessary to grant accelerated hearing and abridgement of time of filing of processes and hearing the suit as stipulated by the Rules of Court in this case,
“That it is necessary to assign a near date for the hearing of the motion for abridgement of time and hearing of the substantive suit as a matter of grave urgency.
“That it will serve the best interest of justice to grant this application.
“That the Defendants will not be prejudiced by a grant of this application.
“That I depose to this affidavit in good faith and conscientiously believing same to be true and correct and in accordance with the Oaths Act, LFN, 2004.
Recall that the federal government through in response to requests for clarification on the provision of Public Service Rules, PSR, vis-à-vis the Supreme Court Judgment as it relates to participation of civil servants in partisan politics through the office of the Head of Service of the Federation had on Thursday May 5, 2022 reiterated its stance on the ‘Non Partisan Rule’ for all civil servants in the country.
According to a circular signed by Folasade Yeml-Esan, the rule has not changed.
He said that the clarification became necessary in order to draw the attention of civil servants to the legal opinion of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, HAGF&MJ, on the matter.
According to him, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in his letter, Ref. No. SGF/PS/HCSF/210/11 dated 26th November, 2018, HAGF&MJ asserted inter alia, that, neither the 1999 Constitution nor the Supreme Court has authorized civil servants to engage in partisan politics.
According to the circular, the provisions of Rules 030422 and 030423 of the Public Service Rules, 2008 Edition were not nullified by the Supreme Court, hence, they remain in force and binding on all civil servants seeking to participate in nomination exercises or party primaries.
Similarly, it said that the Supreme Court judgment in INEC vs Musa did not set aside or nullify the provisions of the Public Service Rules, hence, they must be complied with by any civil servant, who wishes to seek nomination or participation in party primary elections.
“In the overall best interest of neutrality, harmony, integrity and development of Nigerian Civil Service, all civil servants are strongly advised to be guided by the provisions of PSR and the legal opinion of Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation/Minister of Justice on the subject.
“The provisions of Rules 030402(g). 030422 and 030423 of the Public Service Rules (2008 Edition) should be enforced.
“The contents of this circular should be given widest circulation for the compliance of all concerned,” it said.
– May 09, 2022 @ 12:42 GMT | AI
Tags: CBN Godwin Emefiele Mike Ozekhome Muhammadu Buhari Rotimi Akeredolu
