Opinion

2023: Godwin Emefiele: Tick the Box (South) by Chidi Ebube

Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:55 PM by Jerrywright Ukwu

Editor's note: A public affairs commentator based in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Chidi Ebube, in this piece, stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele ticks the box if conversations surrounding zoning in the 2023 presidential elections revolve around southern aspirants.

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Responding to recent reports that he was eying the presidency come 2023, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said, while he was focused on his job as head of the apex bank, his fate was in God’s hands concerning any future endeavour.

The CBN governor has been in the news of late, with speculations that he has been drafted into the race for who leads the country after President Muhammadu Buhari completes his term on May 29, 2023. While Emefiele has not officially declared an interest in vying for the highest political position in the land, he was quoted by a group of friends, under the auspices of ‘Friends of Godwin Emefiele’ to have rightly said it was the prerogative of President Buhari to map out his succession plan.

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But Emefiele has a legitimate claim to the presidency, regardless of whether he desires it or not. First, he is a Nigerian eligible and deserved to aspire and dare to dream. Also, his work at the helm of the CBN in the last eight years has significantly impacted the economy, created millions of jobs and opportunities, renewed hopes, and inspired innovation across the food chain from farming to infrastructure; stabilizing the currency to boosting local production of goods and services.

Qualified as he is and no matter how the CBN governor would like to commit his future to the divine, there are huddles made here on earth which he has to scale for any hope of him to become Nigeria’s next president because there have been permutations around certain demographic distributions and social considerations ahead of the 2023 elections.

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One of the most contentious of such considerations so far has been where the next president of Nigeria should come from – north or south. If the happenings in the two largest political parties in Nigeria are anything to go by, the biggest talking point that will define the outcome of the 2023 presidential election is zoning, and the voices for southern candidates in both the APC and PDP have so far been distinct, loud and clear.

So, if truly, by consensus, it’s the turn of the south to move into Aso Rock, then Emefiele ticks that box too, like every one of the other boxes a potential candidate would need to tick in the runoff to the 2023 presidential election.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.