By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Transparency group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “disclose details of the measures your government is taking to immediately and effectively obey the Supreme Court decision extending the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to continue to receive the notes from Nigerians.”
The group urged the president “to publicly instruct the CBN to immediately and effectively implement the Supreme Court decision ordering an end to the cash withdrawal limits imposed by banks because such restrictions violate citizens’ right to freely use their property.”
It also urged Buhari “to disclose the measures that your government is taking to direct the CBN to immediately re-circulate the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, as ordered by the Supreme Court.”
In the letter dated 4 March 2023 and signed by SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said, “There is an overriding public interest in disclosing the details of the measures your government and the CBN are taking to effectively and satisfactorily obey the Supreme Court decision.”
According to SERAP, “Disclosing the measures that your government and the CBN are taking to implement the Supreme Court decision would also enable Nigerians to monitor and scrutinise the level of compliance with the decision.”
SERAP also said, “The public should not be kept in the dark on what your government and the CBN are doing to implement the decision. Widely publishing the implementation measures would also improve accountability of state officials and public confidence in the rule of law and Nigeria’s democracy.”
The Supreme Court last week extended the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 Naira notes till 31st December, stating that the CBN must continue to receive the notes from Nigerians. The court held that the president’s directive on the redesign of the new notes without due consultation is invalid.
The letter read in part: “We would be grateful if the requested information and recommended measures are implemented within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our requests.”
“The implementation by your government of the CBN policy on the redesign of the country’s currency has contributed to violations of citizens’ rights.”
SERAP said it is concerned about the persistent disobedience of court orders by the Buhari administration, “and the apparent lack of respect for constitutional and international rule of law obligations.”
•Obaseki, Oshiomhole trade words over alleged impeachment of Edo gov
The Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, has said the recent statement by the former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole on the fate of Governor Godwin Obaseki in the Edo State House of Assembly polls exposes Oshiomhole’s insidious plan to oust Governor Obaseki through impeachment.
In a statement yesterday, Osagie expressed confidence that Edo people, as they did in 2020, will again rise in defence of the governor at the polls on Saturday, March 11, and vote massively for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), electing a House controlled by the PDP.
Osagie said, “The recent statement by the former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole on the fate of Governor Godwin Obaseki in the Edo State House of Assembly polls exposes his insidious plan to oust the current governor through impeachment.
“We are, however, confident that, as it happened in 2020 when Edo people stood with the governor despite the bullying and intimidation by Oshiomhole and his paymasters, Edo people will again rise in defence of the governor at the polls on Saturday, March 11; vote massively for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and elect a House controlled by the PDP.
“Obaseki has never placed his confidence in any man or godfather. He has placed his confidence in God and the people.”
However, the Chief Media aide to Oshiomhole, Victor Oshioke, said Obaseki is scared of the looming consequences of his reign of terror.
He said, “Godwin Obaseki is a corrosive politician whose attitudes are patently leprous. He contaminates and destroys any party, place, or person that he associates with.
“For almost seven years, he has governed Edo State like Herod. Insensitive to the aspirations, frustrations, and cries of the people who elected him.
“But on February 25, 2023, Edo people unambiguously rejected him and his PDP faction in the Presidential, Senate, and House of Representatives polls. For the first time since the return to democracy in 1999, Edo State PDP failed to win any seat in the national assembly, a direct consequence of Godwin Obaseki’s cantankerous, vicious, and reckless use of state power to intimidate, oppress, terrorise, and pauperise our people.
“On March 11, Edo people will once again go to the polls to put the final nail on the coffin of impunity, hatred, insecurity, maladministration, destruction of private properties, economic retrogression, infrastructural decay and disrespect for traditional institutions which are the unfortunate hallmarks of Godwin Obaseki’s two tenures in office.
“No man is God and Oshiomhole is not God. He has never pretended to have godly powers, so he cannot install or decree who becomes a member of the House of Assembly. That is for the electorates to do. But as a leader, Oshiomhole is calling on all Edo people to come out and vote for all APC candidates so that true democracy can once again be restored in Edo State,” he added.
