The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, has put to rest months of speculations about his presidential ambition, as he picked the All Progressives Congress (APC) Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for the 2023 presidential race.
Without fanfare, three groups picked the N100 million forms on behalf of the CBN Governor at the Abuja International Conference Centre yesterday.
The groups, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, (RIFAN), Friends of Emefiele, and Emefiele Support Group, said Emefiele is the only responsible and responsive person to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2023 general election.
However, the CBN governor has not officially indicated an interest in running for the presidency, saying he was focused on strengthening the nation’s economy amid calls by supporters that he should contest for the nation’s topmost office in 2023.
According to the groups, Nigeria is passing through a lot of economic and security challenges, and the parties and the electorate must bring in experience, dynamism, energy, equity and fairness in the choice of who becomes the next President of Nigeria.
Expressing the reason for their push for Emefiele, they said the CBN governor’s tenure as head of the Nigerian apex bank, has shown capacity, focus, courage and worked tirelessly with the economic team of President Muhammadu Buhari to keep the economy of our great country afloat above recession and outright collapse.
The groups said the decision was reached having realized that the CBN governor is one of the trusted and tested Nigerians that have the commitment and competence to protect the interests of farmers across the country and give priority to commodity and agricultural value chain.
The leaders of the commodity associations arrived at this decision on Wednesday, at the end of a two-day intensive meeting in Maitama, Abuja, that drew more than 30 commodity associations from 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT).
One of the conveners of the meeting, Malam Ibrahim Garba, told newsmen that the meeting was convened to articulate the position of the commodity associations, who are the biggest stakeholders in the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He said the robust national security the country needs now can only be achieved through food security. According to him, “Agriculture is the key to achieving national security. Through agriculture, millions of Nigerians are economically empowered and gainfully engaged; our industries are revived, a multifaceted value-chain eco-system created, and food security is ensured”.
The commodity associations’ leaders said in the last seven years, Nigeria has carved a niche for itself as a country that has achieved self-sufficiency in food production.
One of the farmers’ leaders from the South-East, Madu Ndubuisi, said, “Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Nigerians were never short of food. We were never hungry, even when every country in the world shut its borders for nearly a year.
“Only God knows what would have happened if we were importing the food we eat. There would have been war. But that was averted due to the resilience of Nigerian farmers and commitment to agriculture by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“It was to sustain this unprecedented agricultural feat that the representatives of farmers and their leaders across the commodities converged in Abuja for two days and decided to raise N100 million to acquire an APC form for Emefiele, who is the driver of the Buhari agricultural revolution”.
It was learnt that the farmers have divided themselves into six zones, with each zone raising at least N20 million. “We have decided that every farmer in the country would donate a minimum of N200 for this cause. We have set the ball rolling.
“We are not leaving any stone unturned”, another commodity association leader from Jigawa State, Mudi Ila, said.
