The Supremo Court has described President Muhammadu Buhari as an autocrat and a dictator over his disobedience of their temporary injunction that the old Naira notes should remain legal tender.
Delivering a final judgement in the case filed by some state governments, the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a seven-member panel of the court, held that the old banknotes should remain valid legal tenders until December 31.
The Supreme Court set aside the ban on the use of the old N200, N500 and N1000 bank notes as legal tenders. It held that the old Naira notes should be used alongside the redesigned currencies.
The court said the disobedience of orders of courts by the President in a constitutional democracy as ours is a sign of the failure of the constitution and that democratic governance has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship.
The court faulted President Buhari for introducing the demonization policy, without due consultation with the Council of States, the Federal Executive Council, the Civil Society and other relevant stakeholders.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgement accused President Buhari of disobeying its interim order that halted the full implementation of the new monetary policy.
The apex court ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to allow both the old naira notes and the new ones to circulate side by side till the end of the year.
All directives issued by President Muhammadu Buhari in respect of the naira re-designing and circulation were voided and set aside on grounds of illegalities and abuse of executive powers.
The court said the President exhibited and took the disobedience to the highest peak with his broadcast of February 16 in which he allowed only N200 notes alone.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Attorney-general of the Federation and minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to resign following the judgement of the Supreme Court on naira swap policy.
The party’s national vice chairman (North-West), Salihu Lukman, said the AGF and the CBN did not guide President Muhammadu Buhari properly on the decision to phase out old naira notes.
Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict in a statement he issued on Friday in Abuja, Lukman said, “It is unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari could be misled into such acts of illegality and abuse of executive powers as pronounced by the Supreme Court.
“We, and indeed all Nigerians, are grateful to the Supreme Court Justices led by Justice Akomaye for this landmark judicial intervention. Given the injurious nature of the consequences of the cashless policy of the Federal Government as was implemented thus far, and the damage of the Supreme Court ruling to the profile of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami must take personal responsibility for this act of illegality by the Federal Government.”
The former director general of the Progressive Governors Forum noted that in advanced democracies, public office holders who commit such acts of illegality voluntarily resign from their appointments.
He added: “Therefore, if indeed, the cashless policy of the Federal Government was supposedly designed to conform with extant legal provisions of the Nigerian Federation, now that it turned out in the direct opposite, both the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Malami should accept the limitations of both their knowledge of the law and commitment to democracy by resigning from their respective offices forthwith.
“Rule of law is fundamental to democracy and individuals who flagrantly violate the laws or promote acts that breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must not be tolerated.
“We call on Nigerians to take note of the fact that the crusade against the Federal Government cashless policy was led by APC, not minding the attempt to sensationally politicise it to the benefit of opposition political parties and their candidates in this election season.
“It is gratifying that Nigerians resisted the antics of subversive politicians who wanted to use such crude methods, including inflicting untold hardship and pains on Nigerians to provoke citizens into voting against the APC during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We commend and salute Nigerians for their faith in our party, APC and determination to support our party and our candidates during the 2023 elections. We are indeed confident that Nigerians across all the 36 states of the Federation will reaffirm this confidence during the Governorship and States’ Houses of Assembly election on Saturday, March 11, 2023.”
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