Knowing full well where the problem lies for the Supreme Court order on retention of old Naira notes, some state governments have directed their attention to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, insisting that both men obey the apex court or face contempt charges.
The latest development comes Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, who is also a former CBN governor confirmed that the CBN had directed banks to begin to deal on old Naira notes.
Said Soludo, “The Governor of the CBN gave the directive at a Bankers’ Committee meeting held on Sunday.
“The CBN Governor, Dr Godwin Emefiele, personally confirmed this development to me during a phone conversation on Sunday night.
“Residents of Anambra are therefore advised to freely accept and transact their businesses with the old currency notes, including N200; N500; and N1,000w as well as the new notes.”
He urged Anambra residents to report any bank that refuses to accept deposits of the old notes.
“Anambra State Government will not only report such a bank to the CBN, but will also immediately shut down the defaulting branch,” he said.
Meanwhile, the State governments threatening Emefiele and Malami continue to conveniently forget to join President Muhammadu Buhari in the threat.
Both Malami and Emefiele are known to be agents of a master: the President.
It is not clear if the duo have receiveda go-ahead order to obey the country’s highest court’s order from their principal.
Media reports shoe that the states hsve threatened contempt charges against Malami and Emefiele on Tuesday over the week old.
Anger has been brewing in the country over the inexplicable silence of the Presidency, CBN, and the AGF, as the cash crunch continues to bite harder; banks continue to be daily thronged by customers who cant get their own money, and many bankers avoid premises for fear of attacks.
Worse, in addition to limiting withdrawals to ridiculously low amounts, banks shut their doors early to customers, reject old Naira notes, though they stuff their automated teller machines (ATM) with old notes.
There have been speculations that the presidency is holding its peace on the Supreme Court order on legal tenders until after the gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections on Saturday so as to reduce the influence of money, but other analysts rubbish the speculations, because as one wryly put it, ” did it work in the presidential election?”
The silence of the presidency and CBN is believed to be behind the decision of many business outlets rejecting old notes as legal tender.
Recall that the Federal Government had been served with the enrolled order and Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment ordering the use of old notes as legal tender, but since this was done, nothing positive has come out of it, and Nigerians continue to languish as Point of Sales (PoS) operators make a kill, like black market fuel operators, make a kill.
It has been speculated that, like fuel station managers, top bankers operate with PoS operators to extort Nigerians.
Meanwhile, the counsel for Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, which dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court on the matter, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), has been quoted as saying, “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.”
On Sunday, the Zamfara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Junaidu Aminu, disclosed that due to the recalcitrant of the Federal Government on the apex court order, the affected states would approach the court again to ensure compliance with the court’s order.
Said Aminu, “We have just served the Attorney General of the Federation with the Certified True Copy of the Enrolled Order of the Supreme Court last Friday. We are waiting for them to respect the court’s decision on the naira notes and comply with the decision. If they fail to comply on Monday, we are filing our case on Tuesday.’’
“If he (CBN Governor) fails to do so, we will go back to court again to sue him and the Federal Government on contempt charges….
“The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, is the one who should direct the CBN to comply with the Supreme Court’s verdict and allow the old naira notes to remain legal tender until December 31.”
On why the CBN governor was not a party in the suit filed by the state governments, Aminu stated, “The matter is between some states and the Federal Government. The CBN governor is an ordinary civil servant who receives directives from the Federal Government.”
In Ekiti State on Sunday, its Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dayo Apata, SAN, said the state would align with other states on whatever legal steps would make the Federal Government comply with the Supreme Court judgment on the naira redesign and cash swap policy.
“Definitely, we are all in the same boat and what is important to us is to ensure compliance with the court order. So, whatever we will do legally that will make the parties comply, we will align with it.
“Whatever that is going to be legally possible for us to achieve the aims and objectives of our going to court, we will align with other states.’’
Others states like Rivers, Kogi, Cross River, Ondo have lined up behind any effort to compel the Federal Government to fall in line with the subsisting order of the Supreme Court.