Naira crisis: CHRAN slams Buhari, wants Emefiele, Malami charged for contempt
The Akwa Ibom State Chapter of Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network, CHRAN, has taken President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele to the cleaner for their repeated refusal to obey the Supreme Court ruling on the recirculation of the old Naira notes.
It took the CBN Governor and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, 10 days after the Supreme Court ruling to direct commercial banks to accept and dispense the old naira notes, a development that angered the State Director of CHRAN, Otuekong Franklyn Isong.
“Ten days after the Supreme Court judgment on the new Naira Notes policy, it is clear that the Attorney General of the Federation and the Governor of CBN are lawless men who have disobeyed the apex court of the land and should be committed to Prison for treating the court with contempt,” Otuekong Franklyn Isong, noted while reacting to the directing.
Otuekong Franklyn Isong had earlier in a press briefing on Wednesday, 8th March, 2023 held at Shakespeare Hall, Watbridge Hotel, Uyo, demanded that the CBN Governor and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami be charged for contempt of court and committed to prisons for their role in the saga.
The seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro had unanimously extended the validity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes till 31 December but until now both the Presidency and CBN are yet to direct banks to comply with the ruling, the situation Otuekong Franklyn Isong described as an affront on the sanctity of the judiciary and Rule of Law.
The state director of CHRAN also carpeted the President’s disobedience of the Supreme Court orders of 8 and 15 February directing that the old notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones, following a suit brought before it by three state governments – Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara – on 3rd February 2023 seeking the reversal of the policy.
The right group helmsman observed with dismay President Muhammadu Buhari’s perchance and long history of disobeying court orders.
He urged the governors of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai; Zamfara, Matawalle; Kogi, Yahaya Bello to file a contempt charge against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over their refusal to implement the Supreme Court judgment on the controversial naira redesign policy.
“”Unfortunately for us, we have a President who refuses to obey the Rule of Law, who refuses to obey court orders, who acts as though the court is attached to the Executive.
“”Simply put, President Muhammadu Buhari does not believe in the Rule of Law. He has violated several court orders. The issue of Dasuki is there. The issue of Kanu is there. The issue of Ibrahim El Zaki is there, and now the Supreme Court orders on cashless policy.
Even the Chief Law Officer, Abubakar Malami that misled the President into believing that he made a broadcast and overrule the Supreme Court should be charged with contempt of court.
“”We advise those governors who went to court to return on Monday (13th March, 2023) and ask the court to charge the CBN Governor and Attorney General of the Federation, Malami, for contempt. They should be committed to prisons because lessons will be learned when the court begins to send public officeholders to prisons. When that is done you will see that they will sit and begin to adjust.
“When the court has teeth to bite; commit them to prisons for contempt it will serve as a deterrent to others. So the only way out is that on Monday (today) let those governors who went to court to go back and charge Emefiele and Malami for contempt. This is when normalcy will return. Until that is done you will still have people behaving as if they are above the law in our democracy,” Otuekong Franklyn Isong noted.
Rufai, Matawalle, and Yahaya Bello are planning to file contempt charges against AGF Malami, Emefiele over the naira crisis.
Despite the fact that the Federal Government had been served with the enrolled order and Certified True Copy (CTC) of last week’s Supreme Court judgment, which also ordered that the old N1,000, N500, and N200 should be in circulation alongside the new notes till December 31, 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari and Emefiele have kept silence over the matter.
The Federal Government had used the non-service of the enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment as an excuse for its failure to direct Emefiele to begin implementing the apex court ruling.,
But counsel for Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, said that Malami was served with the enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment last Friday.
Mustapha stated that he expected immediate compliance with the judgment as the non-service of the documents had given the government and the CBN an escape route.
He said, “The Attorney-General of the Federation has been served now and we will take it up from there; if there is no compliance now, we will commence committal proceedings against the attorney-general and the CBN governor. When the Supreme Court talks, the constitution makes it compulsory for all government representatives and everybody to comply with its order. It’s not discretional, you have to obey, it is the last and the final and that is why we have separation of power.
“The presence of separation of power is for checks and balances; when the Supreme Court talks, it must be complied with by all persons.”
