Francis Ajuonuma
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, yesterday came under fire for insisting that the February 10 deadline for the validity of old naira notes still stands.
The development came despite an ex-parte order of the Supreme Court which restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 deadline, pending the hearing of the matter on February 15.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, said the CBN was wrong for not obeying an order of the Supreme Court suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the old naira notes.
Ruling on an ex parte application brought by three states, Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, the apex court had on February 8 restrained the CBN from giving effect to the deadline on the use of old notes.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who is the sole respondent in the suit has also filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.
However, Malami said the Federal Government would obey the order in line with the rule of law.
Despite the assurance to comply with the order, some commercial banks, filling stations, and traders have stopped accepting the old naira notes from customers.
However, briefing the diplomatic community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja yesterday, Emefiele said he does not believe there was a need for further extension of the deadline.
“The situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents. There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10,” he said.
He said effective implementation of the naira redesign policy could cut off four per cent from the current inflation level of 21.34 per cent.
The CBN boss also accused some politicians of “buying” the new notes and hoarding them.
“Some of our leaders are buying the new notes and storing them for whatever purposes. I will not be direct here,” he said.
Emefiele further warned that the apex bank, in collaboration with security agencies, would arrest and prosecute point of sale (PoS) operators who collect exorbitant charges for transactions.
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*It’s wrong to flout S’ Court order, says Falana
Meanwhile, in an interview on Channels Television yesterday, Falana said CBN has a responsibility to direct commercial banks to comply with the order of the court.
The human rights lawyer said, “In a country where the rule of law operates, once the Supreme Court has determined a matter or given an order, it is expected that all and sundry – everybody – will comply with the order,” he said.
“In this instance, the government was not ready to comply with the order. A statement was credited to the central bank that said since it was not a party to the case, it is not going to comply with the order. I thought that could only happen in a banana republic
“Because you would have expected the central bank to have stated that following the order of the Supreme Court, all actions are seen on the 15th of February. I think the plaintiffs will have to take it up in the court.”
He said the CBN and its governor cannot refuse to obey the court order on the excuse that it is not a party in the suit.
“When the caught in Abuja granted an order that Godwin Emefiele is not arrested, he wasn’t a party to the case,” Falana said.
“When he ran to use some proxies to file an action against the central bank board in Delta state, preventing the bank from moving against him for participating in politics, he wasn’t a party. So people can also choose to pick which orders of the court to obey.”
The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) added that the CBN is inciting the public against commercial banks despite not disbursing sufficient cash.
“Unfortunately, the Central Bank appears to have incited the public against the banks because people now troop to the banks,” he said.
“Let the public know how much you have released to each bank so that we can also ask them if can you justify what you did with the money. But if you run the country based on secrecy, you leave people guessing and making allegations and counter-allegations.
He said although the policy is supposed to be a good strategy to curb vote buying, “it was not well thought out”.
“There was no committee to learn from what happened to Nigeria in 1984 when the Buhari military junta changed the colour of the naira and gave Nigeria only two weeks. At that time, the population was 81 million. Many people died and even committed suicide because they couldn’t get their money.”
