The Federal Government said yesterday it was not in breach of the Supreme Court order restraining it from enforcing the February 10 time limit for the validity of old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami gave the government’s position during a weekly ministerial briefing in Abuja.
Also yesterday, Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila and Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu restated their displeasure with the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) naira redesign policy and fuel scarcity in the country.
While Gbajabiamila described naira and fuel scarcities as a “rigging” plot against the All Progressives Congress(APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Tinubu, Akeredolu called on voters to brace the hardship caused them by the shortages and cast their votes for the former Lagos State governor tomorrow.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on February 16, 2023, directed the CBN to re-circulate the old N200 notes, thereby extending its validity till April 10.
This was in spite of the Supreme Court order that the three old denominations (N1,000, N500 and N200 ) should remain legal till it delivers judgment in the case filed by some states against the Federal Government. The verdict will be given on March 3.
The President’s broadcast and express exclusion of the N500 and N1,000 notes had since been flayed by the public and Senior Advocates of Nigeria(SANs).
Asked to comment on the alleged flouting of the Supreme Court order by the President, Malami said: “Your question can best be answered within the context of what constitutes a rule of law in the Nigerian situation.
“Where an order is made by a court, you have multiple options, but let me state before even addressing the issue of the options available at our disposal as a government.
“The fact is that we are not in breach of any order made by the court, inclusive of any order associated with the naira redesign. We are not in breach.
“I’m not a banker, but you have not gone to establish which bank is it that you have gone to present N1000 or N500 notes that have been rejected. So we are not in breach.
“But then, assuming we are in breach, the fact remains that this matter is sub-judice, as you rightly know. It’s being contested before the Supreme Court and when an order is made, you have multiple options within the context of the rule of law.
“One, you are entitled as a matter of right, if the facts and evidence support your position, to apply for setting it aside.
“The position of the law, legal jurisprudence is clear, once you are attacking and you seeking for a setting aside of an existing order of the court, cannot be said to be operating in breach when you presented your application for setting aside.
“If the court is not an apex court, you equally have a right of appeal and support the right of appeal with an application for a stay, of execution order. So the bottom line of what I’m trying to state is if the matter is sub-judice and within the context of the rule of law, we are doing the needful as a government, in terms of ensuring that the right of the government, within the context of the naira redesign, is protected.”
*Gbajabiamila: naira, fuel scarcities rigging plot against Tinubu,
Speaker Gbajabiamila has claimed that those behind naira and fuel shortages in the country did so to stop Tinubu from winning the presidential election.
He said: “No money, no cash to eat, to go out in the last three, four weeks; that is nothing but rigging before of election.
“It is done for a purpose and a purpose only: to make sure that the man all of Nigeria wants does not win this election.”
Gbajabiamila spoke during his 2023 Constituency Outreach Programme at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
The Speaker, however, said he took solace in the fact that God’s hands is in the Tinubu presidential project.
He added: “The man who they attempted to rig the election against, even three weeks before the elections, but he’s still standing and standing strong, that people are singing in the North, East and West.
“Songs are coming out and saying whether you lock up the money, whether you close the doors to the filling stations, people are singing that they will go out and they will vote for Asiwaju.
“That is the man that God’s hands are on his project.”
Gbajabiamila reasoned that Tinubu’s performance against heavyweights at the APC presidential primaries was evidence of divine intervention.
The Speaker donated 161 e-hailing cars and buses as transportation empowerment to boost constituents’ income earning capacity, 555 laptops for students and teachers, 502 industrial machines for artisans and N200 million to over 2,500 traders, market women, artisans and other businesses.
The lawmaker added that over 5,000 laptops and ICT gadgets had in the past been provided to students and teachers in all 23 secondary schools in Surulere, education grants to 1,000 students in federal and state universities and over 15, 200 traders, artisans as well as SMEs empowered.
·Naira, fuel shortages designed to de-market APC, Tinubu
In Akure, Governor Akeredolu described the cash swap policy and fuel scarcity as lethal injections deliberately deployed to de-market the APC government.
He claimed in a statewide broadcast that the cashless policy was aimed to create an uncontrollable crisis in the country and frustrate the general election.
Tinubu, according to him, is at the centre of all the darts and arrows of the “current misnomer” in the country.
The governor added that the policy was to frustrate the popularity and acceptability of the APC candidate.
He said: “The goal is to truncate the election and deny the country the service of a true patriot, an endowed visionary with a proven record of character, knowledge, leadership and performance.
“It is also an attempt to abuse the principle of rotational presidency by denying a section of this country its legitimate right, thereby fuelling ethnic disaffection and creating a grave constitutional crisis in the country.”
“Despite the desperate efforts by selfish and subversive elements within the government, to destroy the multiparty politics in Nigeria, the dividends of good governance brought to the people by the APC remain indelible in the recent history of our state in particular and the nation in general.
“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is at the centre of all the darts and arrows of the current misnomer in Nigeria because he represents the new Nigeria we all envisage.
“As your Governor, my duty to you at this time of great confusion and frustration is therefore to provide you with a clear vision of the path of redemption and hope.
“It is to charge you all to shake off the artificial frustration and the temporary barriers on your way to choosing a President who represents hope and assured brighter days ahead.
“My message to you is that despite all the well-planned intrigues to deny you of your democratic rights and the future and prosperity of your off-springs, which Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu represents, I urge you to troop out massively and vote for the APC on Saturday.”