From Fred Itua, Abuja
A Coalition of Civil Organisations (CSOs), have rejected calls for the resignation of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Ifaenyichukwu Emefiele.
Director of CSOs coordinating center,
Abubakar Mohammed, in a press statement made available to newsmen, said the call for Emefiele’s presidential bid is being championed by supporters.
He said the support groups have already confessed that Emefiele is not behind the campaign materials. He said Emefiele should be allowed to perform his role as CBN governor.
He said: “It has been brought to our notice, an interview allegedly granted by Dare Ariyo-Atoye, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and Giwa Victor in punch newspaper calling on the CBN Governor to resign, given that he has been associated with campaign materials across the country.
“It has been established that voluntary organizations are behind the campaign materials bearing the face of the CBN Governor as they are committed to asking him to join the 2023 Presidential Race.
“These groups have come out openly to accept their roles in the campaign for Dr. Emefiele, while the CBN Governor is yet to accept their request to join the race but has restated his commitment to his job.
“We see this call by the said persons purportedly representing CSOs as one of the sponsored smear attacks against the person of Dr. Emefiele by greedy politicians and their supporters who have vowed to discredit the CBN Governor even before he agrees to join the race. And as CSOs, we will not associate ourselves with these kinds of smear campaigns.
“We cannot understand why anyone claiming to be speaking for CSOs will embark on such an attack based on a movement openly adopted by voluntary groups calling for the CBN Governor to run in the next general elections.
“As leading members of CSOs, we hereby reject such calls and outrightly state that we are confident with our CBN Governor, who has, despite the calls for him to join the Presidential race, continued to show commitment to his work at the Apex Bank.
“We, therefore, ask Dr. Emefiele to please disregard such outrageous statements from the said individuals and their cronies under the guise of CSOs as they do not speak for CSOs but their pockets. We are confident in the CBN Governor and will continue to watch the political space for developments that may come up due to these attacks.”