A suit seeking to disqualify the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, from participating in the All Progressives Congress presidential primary, on grounds of his non-eligibility, has been filed in a High Court in Port Harcourt.

The plaintiff, Naapah Bariledum, who is a member of the APC in Ward 4, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, asked the court, in suit number PHC/1371/CS/2022, to disqualify Emefiele from participating in the primary. He asked this on the grounds that Emefiele was not eligible to participate in the process in view of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution; the APC Constitution and the CBN Act which he had already violated. The plaintiff sought an ex-parte order to restrain the CBN governor from participating in the primary pending the final hearing of the suit. The plaintiff argued, among other things, that Emefiele had not fulfilled the provisions of the CBN Act which would have allowed him to have the legal right to have a valid membership of the APC before participating in the primary. He asked the court to declare any interest in the presidential race by the CBN governor a nullity. Bariledum prayed the court to hear the matter urgently to avoid jeopardising the APC presidential primary and the entire party process. Other defendants in the suit were the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission sued as the 2nd and 3rd Defendants. The plaintiff, in an ex-parte application he filed, prayed the court to speed up the process of the case.