Who’s Targeting CBN, INEC Heads?

The alleged failed plots to remove the heads of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, ahead of the forthcoming general election should remind Nigerians that the price to pay for liberty is vigilance, writes Louis Achi

The failed plots were certainly no hare-brained project by nitwits. The subterfuge, timing, forces enlisted and possibly, the funding scope were not ordinary but showed some sophistication. Conspiracy theorists, rightly or wrongly, have fingered unnamed politicians allegedly with large financial war-chests whose political odysseys are calculated to expire with the 2023 general election as culprits.

That these mafia-type events came curiously on the eve of Africa’s most consequential democratic presidential election tends to validate some of the speculations.

In the cross-hairs of these overly ambitious alleged system gamers are the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu. The policies both have conceived and berthed will no doubt boost the organisational integrity of the general election and frustrate the old-fashioned rigging plots.

But in all these high-octane plots to remove Emefiele and Yakubu on specious, trumped up charges, one fact stood out starkly and ultimately saved the day: President Muhammadu Buhari’s supportive position, a watchful and alert judiciary and the activist civil societies’ nifty interventions. President Buhari has repeatedly assured Nigerians of his determination to leave an untainted electoral transition legacy and an economy reasonably stabilised even against the enervating vagaries of the global village.

Last week, the blunt-talking national chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) Chief Dan Nwanyanwu cut to the heart of the matter when he asserted in a national television interview that “The threats against the 2023 general election are potent. We have seen a lot of insecurity across the country, the latest being the attempts by some politicians to truncate the use of the BIVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and IReV (INEC Election Result Viewing Portal) and also taking some legal processes to get the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to be removed from office.”

Nwanyanwu whose position aligns with that of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) further added: “First, they went to a court in Umuahia. They had no facts. They presented nothing. It was based on speculation. The court dismissed it. They went on appeal and the Court of Appeal dismissed it. They came back to Abuja which matter was dismissed last week. Probably, they may go to either Damaturu or Sokoto or anywhere because they are forum shopping.

“That reminds me of what happened in 1993 where the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) took a court process which truncated the declaration of that election’s results. So, they are following that trajectory of using the courts to stop the process of election, the use of BIVAS and removing the INEC chairman. They know very well that the INEC chairman, the commission and the parties are resolute on this new innovation that is in place, which took about two years for us to get to where we are.

“And we want to get it to fruition. They don’t want it. Most politicians in Nigeria don’t want anything straight. They must involve Gestapo tactics which has been the bane of our politics since 1999. They love the Incidence Form whereby they will bypass the Card Reader; even bypass everything in the Voters’ Register and vote”.

The ZLP national chairman also held that, “We must commend the judiciary so far for stoutly standing against the frivolous court cases and ensuring plots don’t see the light of the day.”

It could be recalled that penultimate week, Justice M. A. Hassan of the FCT High Court in a judgment he delivered, dismissed a suit challenging the legitimacy of the assets declared by INEC Chairman, Yakubu, for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

Subsequently, he barred security agencies from investigating the INEC boss over his valid assets declaration. According to the judgment, contrary to the claim of the claimant, Somadina Uzoabaka, the Assets Declaration Form of Yakubu was lawful, valid and in compliance with the law.

Uzoabaka had in the suit sought for the removal of Yakubu as INEC chairman over alleged falsehood in his Assets Declaration Form. Defendants in the Originating Summons marked FCT/HC/GAR/CV/47/202 are the Attorney General of the Federation and Prof. Yakubu.

The claimant had sought among other things an order of mandatory injunction directing and compelling the INEC Chairman to recuse, excuse and exclude himself and or step down as the Chairman of INEC pending the investigation and consideration of the various allegations against him by the various law enforcement agencies. The quirky claimant also sought an order of Court barring the INEC Chairman from holding or assuming any public office for a period of 10 years.

But under the watchful eyes of the judiciary, Uzoabaka’s stunt, obviously a proxy project, was dead on arrival.

In the plot targeting the CBN boss, it came to light recently in a strange drama that the Department of State Services (DSS) had surreptitiously sought the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja, to arrest Emefiele. The secret police had filed an ex parte application for an order for the arrest of the CBN governor over alleged “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.”

The DSS had filed the application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 at the court on December 7, 2022, suing Emefiele as the sole respondent in the ex parte application. But an alert Justice John Tsoho, who is the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, in a ruling on December 9, 2022, rejected the application on the grounds that the secret police failed to provide sufficient evidence to warrant the issuance of an arrest warrant against Emefiele.

According to the judge, the depositions in the affidavit filed by the DSS in support of its application “purport that preliminary investigation has revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by the respondent and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.”

Rejecting the application, the judge said: “These are no doubt grave allegations, but which the applicant has not presented any concrete evidence to support.” He also insisted the SSS failed to clearly identify the person against whom the arrest warrant was sought, observing it remained speculation whether the person was the same Godwin Emefiele serving as the CBN governor.

Proffering charges bothering on “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension,” are by any parameters extreme – and worse when they are unproven and not provable.

Emerging facts indicate that the plot to nail Emefiele stems from politicians’ discomfort with the economic policy of the bank, especially the re-designation of the naira and imposition of cash withdrawal limits.

CBN’s cash withdrawal limits and the currency re-designation will undercut the amount of cash desperate politicians, especially those who see 2023 general election as their last window, can stockpile for illegitimate voter inducement and bribery of security personnel and other relevant officials during the looming elections.

The emerging consensus is that the unfolding scenarios serve to remind Nigerians that the price for liberty is vigilance.