The Centre for Integrity and Good Governance (CIG) has insisted on the adoption of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele as the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections.
The Centre in a press statement issued on Sunday by its Convener, Mr. Waheed Aderibigbe, and Co-convener, Mr. Obinna Ukariaku, congratulated Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu on his emergence through consensus as to the National Chairman of the APC.
It urged Adamu and the APC leadership to chart a new path in the recruitment process of the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 Presidential election by overlooking those it called “professional politicians”, all of whom have failed the nation in the past.
The statement reads in part: “We salute the maturity and wisdom exhibited by the APC in electing Abdullahi Adamu as its Chairman by consensus on the advice of President Muhammadu Buhari.
While we wholeheartedly congratulate the new Chairman on his election, we urge the APC to exhibit the same wisdom and maturity during the forthcoming Presidential primary.
“We have carefully studied the list of contenders for the party’s Presidential ticket and we have noticed a consistent trend: they are all career politicians or persons who had in the last seven years or more been directly involved in the politics and governance of the country.
Without prejudice to the competency, capacity, and right of these individuals to aspire to lead the nation, we wish to state in very clear terms that Nigeria needs a break from these persons.
Nigeria’s Presidency needs a breath of fresh air; it needs the impact and influence of a successful professional, technocrat, or businessperson whose career path is a kaleidoscope of success, innovation, vision, and ideas capable of herding the nation’s socio-economic ship into the shores of prosperity.
“It is on this note that we are proposing the adoption of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). We are aware that no one can pick or be given the ticket of a political party unless such a person is a member of that party. In the case of Emefiele who has not hidden his apolitical disposition, our Centre has concluded arrangements to compel him to join a political party, particularly, the ruling APC.
“Nigeria, as we know her today, requires the services of a professional, a seasoned technoc