Campaign paraphernalia of Godwin Emefiele have emerged ahead of the nation’s presidential elections in 2023.

A rising chorus of supporters drumming support for Mr Emefiele to emerge as the nation’s president next year has gained increased prominence in recent weeks.

Although the CBN governor has not outright declared his intention to run, sources close to him told Peoples Gazette it was only a matter of time before Mr Emefiele yields to pressure being mounted on him.

According to the sources close to Mr Emefiele, supporters believe him to be the Messiah to break the jinx of ethnic Igbo’s inability to produce a president for several decades, including since 1999 when the country returned to civil rule.

“He has not said made up his mind, but he is certainly moving in that direction,” a senior CBN official told The Gazette. The official commented under anonymity because he did not have Mr Emefiele’s permission to provide information to reporters as to internal discussion around the governor’s ambition. 

Being at the helm of the apex bank since 2014, supporters argued that, as the most-senior political office-holder of Igbo origin at the federal level, Mr Emefiele should be allowed to take the ruling party’s ticket in 2023. 

A coalition group christened The Green Alliance held a press conference on Saturday solely for the purpose of begging Mr Emefiele to run for the presidency.

Addressing other supporters, Wale Fapohunda, who convened the group, lavished praises on the CBN governor and outlined reasons to encourage his candidacy.

“This forum has come together to come and plead and beg Godwin Emefiele to run as president of Nigeria in 2023,” Mr Fapohunda said.  “He also introduced a multiple exchange rate regime to try to mask pressure on the Naira and avoid a series of devaluations. He has engineered bank policies and programmes that have supported job creation and fostered inclusive growth, in addition to key macroeconomic concerns such as inflation and exchange rate stability.”

“He has come up with new strategies to navigate the Nigerian economy through hurdles such as the challenge of foreign exchange inflow, the exchange rate, the economic recession, stagflation, financial inclusion and the rise in the value chain of the majority of crops in Nigeria,” he added.

Other supporters have already coined ‘Meffy 2023’ as the campaign slogan for the treasury chief, adorned T-shirts and face caps bearing his picture.

The campaign comes as Mr Emefiele is facing criticism for his poor handling of the nation’s monetary policy. Several Nigerians have seen their businesses devasted on the account of Mr Emefiele’s fluid and incongruous policy pronouncements. 

The Nigerian national currency, which was exchanged at N162 to a dollar on June 3, 2014, when Mr Emefiele assumed leadership of the CBN, now sells at N573 to the American currency at the parallel markets today. 

Applied economist Steve Hanke has on several occasions criticised Mr Emefiele as incompetent in tackling the nation’s rising inflation, constant naira dip and overall economic woes bedevilling Nigeria.

During the #EndSARS protests, Nigerian youths called for the resignation of the CBN governor after he froze accounts of the protest champions.

Still, the CBN chief argued his policies have helped ameliorate the suffering of millions of Nigerian households. He touted his disbursement to rice farmers as a huge economic lifeline for the country, saying no other economy in Africa has been able to achieve a similar feat.