I am humbled by interest for me to run for presidency – Emefiele

Nigeria’s Central Bank governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has opened up on his reported ambition to run for the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In his first public statement on the long-rumoured but open secret, Emefiele on his Twitter handle said he was humbled by the growing public interest for him to run.

“I am humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President in the 2023 general elections: I have not come to that decision. I note and salute the sacrifices of those farmers and patriots going as far as raising personal funds and offering me Presidential Nomination Forms: I thank them most profusely,” Emefiele tweeted Saturday.

The CBN governor however demurred on the idea of a pressure group raising N100 million to buy the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination and expression of interest forms for him.

An association of Nigerian farmers had claimed Friday that it had raised money to buy the APC nomination form for Emefiele, who it praised for contributing meaningfully to improving the fortunes of its members.

According to him, he would rather use his “hard-earned” money for such, should he decide to run.

READ: CBN Governor Emefiele picks APC N100m Presidential forms

He said: “However, should I answer their calls and decide to seek presidential nomination, I will use my own hard earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own  Nomination Forms, without proxies in an open and transparent manner in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“And should I not run for elected office, I will continue to serve and sacrifice for the good people of Nigeria under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“This is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention: in the next few days The Almighty will so direct.”