The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) says the introduction of
the naira redesign policy has damaged the credentials of President Muhammadu
Buhari.
In a statement on Sunday, Murtala Aliyu, secretary general
of the forum, said the scarcity of cash in the country could lead to breakdown
of law and order.
The forum called on Buhari to respect the ruling of the
supreme court which says the old notes remain legal tender until December 31.
“Some ten days ago, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that
President Muhammadu Buhari breached the constitution in the way he issued a
directive to the CBN for the redesign of the naira without consulting with the
National Council of States and the federal executive council,” the ACF said.
“It went further to
rule that the unconstitutional use of powers by the president on the naira
redesign has breached the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens in various
ways.
“The state governors have persistently argued that the
policy which permitted the CBN to place an embargo on the circulation of old
N500 and N1,000 naira notes, while not providing their replacement in
sufficient amounts, had triggered severe cash shortage and chaos in the
economy.
“It has led to runaway inflation in food and other
commodities. Huge crowds and long queues form around bank offices and ATM
points across the country as people struggle to get the new cash which have
remained extremely scarce. It has triggered riots and other forms of civil
unrest.
“Whatever the CBN or
anyone else say about the benefits of the policy, which evidently are many, is
of little comfort as soon as the highest court in the country has deemed that
it is, or at least the manner of its implementation, breaches the law.
“Ten days is long enough time for the government to find its
way towards complying with a court order which import is central to the
achievement of peace, order and good governance in the country.
“President Buhari is under oath to defend the constitution
of Nigeria. As his long term supporters, it will be remiss of us if we fail to
warn that the much touted benefits of the Naira redesign can never justify the
damage to his credentials as a democrat and a stickler for the rule of law.”
The ACF said the president should not pay a heavy price on
account of a policy whose immediate goals are not entirely clear to a majority
of Nigerians.
BACKGROUND
On October 26, 2022, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor,
announced the plan to redesign the biggest denominations of the country’s
currency to control the money supply and aid security agencies in tackling
illicit financial flows.
Emefiele had said the new notes (N200, N500, and N1000)
would be effective from mid-December 2022, advising customers to deposit their
old notes before January 31, 2023, when they would cease to be legal tender.
The January 31 deadline sparked controversies as many
Nigerians could not access the new naira notes.
On January 29, Emefiele said Buhari had approved the
extension of the phase-out to February 10. On February 8, the supreme court
temporarily restrained the federal government from banning the use of the old
naira notes from February 10, 2023, pending the hearing of the matter on
February 15.
Despite the court’s order, Emefiele insisted on the
deadline.
Last week, the supreme court ruled that the old N200, N500,
and N1,000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.
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