A high court sitting in Kwale, Delta State, has restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from stopping Godwin Emefiele’s presidential ambition.
Emefiele had gone to the court to obtain an order that would enable him to stay in office as the CBN governor while contesting the presidential election.
It was gathered on Friday that the court granted the order restraining the apex bank and INEC from making moves to stop Emefiele’s 2023 presidential bid.
According to a report by Punch, the application was secretly filed on May 5 and judgment was granted on May 12.
The judgement was delivered by presiding Justice, DC Maidoh.
Parts of the judgement read: “The court, upon reading through the motion papers and hearing C.N. Ofiah Esq. for the claimants/applicants, ordered as follows: I have read the processes in this suit, the applicant has complied with order 39 of our rules.
“Applicants also deposed to an affidavit of urgency. From the processes before this court, I find that the said application at this stage has merit pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“In the circumstances, in line with order 39 Rule 3 of our rules, this motion is hereby granted. The motion on notice is accordingly adjourned to 25/5/2022 for hearing.”
A Federal High court in Abuja had on May 9 rejected Emefiele’s request to stop INEC from disqualifying him from the 2023 election.
Emefiele had reportedly gone to court to seek constitutional clarification as to whether or not he could remain in office while running for president.
However, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Attorney-General of the Federation to appear before it on May 12 to explain why Emefiele should be disqualified from running for President in 2023.
