Members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), led by the governors, have surprisingly intensified their attack on President Muhammadu Buhari over the recent naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), geared toward the elimination of moneybag politics among other things.
The CBN announced the policy late last year, setting a January 31 deadline for the implementation, which requires that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes be phased out and be replaced with the redesigned notes.
The governors, under the aegis of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), were quick to approach Buhari, requesting that both the old and new notes be allowed to co-circulate. The deadline was later extended to February 10 as scarcity of the new notes mars the currency swap exercise, exposing Nigerians to forced cashlessness that scuttles economic and social activities.
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Led by three states; Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara, the PGF dragged the federal government to the Supreme Court, praying the apex court to compel the CBN to rescind the monetary policy and allow both the old and new naira notes to co-exist. In February 8, the Supreme Court granted an ex parte order, restraining the federal government from enforcing the February 10 deadline, until the matter, which has now been adjourned to February 22, is determined by the court.
However, the CBN did not obey the order. The apex bank declared days later that the old naira notes will cease to be legal tender after the expiration of its February 10 deadline, opening a few-days window for people to deposit the old notes in their possession at central bank branches across the country.
The federal government, in its response to the three states’ lawsuit, had questioned the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to entertain the case. The Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami had argued that the three states failed to make the CBN a party to the case, and as an independent institution, that makes the Supreme Court’s order non-binding on the apex bank.
When on Tuesday the CBN declared that the old naira notes are no longer legal tenders following the expiration of the deadline, the APC governors erupted in protest. Nearly all the APC governors, in defiance of Buhari who they have supported through thick and thin in the past seven years, have kicked against the CBN policy – declaring the old notes legal tender in their various states.
It was the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who first alleged that the naira redesign policy was meant to scuttle the party’s chances in the coming elections. The allegation was reechoed by El-Rufai days later. The Kaduna State governor said that some “elements” in the presidency, who are upset that their candidate didn’t win the APC presidential ticket, orchestrated the policy in addition to fuel scarcity to undermine Tinubu’s chances at the February 25 presidential poll.
Since then, the sentiment has been spreading from members and supporters of the APC. This is as opposition political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), openly throw their support behind the policy.
On Wednesday, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila said: “Nobody can convince me that it is not a plot to stop Asiwaju (Tinubu) from becoming the president of this country,”
On Tuesday, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun threatened to “shut down any Commercial bank operating in Ogun state that refuses to accept old naira notes.”
We will shut down any Commercial bank operating in Ogun state that refuses to accept old naira notes.#BuildingOurFutureTogether #ISEYA #OgunState #DapoAbiodun pic.twitter.com/5f3fmYTIhN
— Prince Dr. Dapo Abiodun – MFR, CON (@dabiodunMFR) February 14, 2023
Other APC governors have done something similar. Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Bauchi Yobe etc, have joined the throng of APC states pushing to thwart the implementation of the naira redesign policy, with some of the states’ governors issuing arrest orders for those who reject the old notes.
Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje said on Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari did not achieve anything throughout his eight years in office, and is now determined to ruin the APC before leaving office in May 2023.
“In the first term, nothing of great importance can point out as his achievement, same as in his second term. So, why is he bringing out all these policies now? Why not seven years ago? He just wants to collapse the party that produced him,” he said.
On Thursday, Gbajabiamila issued a statement criticizing the resolution of both the federal government and the central bank to see to the full implementation of the policy.
“It is disheartening that the CBN has resolutely refused to admit error and change course in the face of mounting evidence that the implementation of this policy has been a devastating failure,” the speaker said. “It is deeply troubling that neither the intervention of the National Council of State nor an order of the Supreme Court is sufficient to cause the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to review the decisions that have brought us to this entirely avoidable moment.”
The Speaker of the @HouseNGR Rep. @femigbaja on Thursday faulted the decision of the Federal Government to disregard the Supreme Court order on the issue of currency swap. pic.twitter.com/ypuFr7fhtm
— Speaker of the House of Representatives (@SpeakerGbaja) February 16, 2023
Reinforcing the belief that the policy had been engineered to cost the APC presidential election, El-Rufai had in a statement on Thursday, pointed at unnamed persons as the architects of the design.
“My dear of people of Kaduna State, with the foregoing revelations, it is clear that our peaceful coexistence as a state, and a nation, is being placed under deliberate danger using the intentional combination of fuel and cash supply disruptions,” he said.
“These evil people using the instrumentality of the Federal Government and the President as convenient covers are willing to truncate our democracy because they have personally lost out. They are massively deploying resources and tools to defeat the political party that gave us the platform to serve the country just because they could not impose the candidates of their choice. Let us not help them.”
“Let us stay calm and peaceful, and support the lawful means being utilised to solve our problems. On behalf of the Kaduna State Govt, I wish to assure you that none of you would lose the money you have in old notes. The law is on your side… pic.twitter.com/PleA6Ncxtp
— Governor of Kaduna (@GovKaduna) February 16, 2023
Thus, in a daring charge on Thursday, El-Rufai asked Kaduna residents to ignore whatever directive the CBN has issued on the old naira notes and continue to use them as legal tender in the state.
“Hold on to them. Continue to use them as legal tender as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. No deadline can render them worthless, ever. The law is on your side,” he charged.
The number of states fighting against the implementation of the policy in court has risen to more than 10, following the joinder of seven other sates made by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The federal government’s decision to allow the old N200 note to circulate alongside the new notes, which was announced by Buhari on Thursday, was not enough to quell their fight.
“The address by the President earlier this [Thursday] morning limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200 amounts to total disregard and disobedience of the ruling of February 8th which was extended further [Wednesday] by the Supreme Court,” El-Rufai said in his statement on Thursday.
The states said their decision to sue the federal government was inspired by the suffering the chaotic implementation of the policy has caused the masses. But it is a claim that a large section of Nigerians have disagreed with for obvious reasons.
The federal government is notorious of flouting court orders, a disappointing notoriety that had been flagrantly backed by the APC. Nigerians were quick to outline occasions where the federal government had disobeyed court orders, citing some of its policies targeting the wellbeing of the people that both the APC governors and the party’s bigwigs did not challenge.
.@EuginhoCortez often says we should stand for principle, not persons.
Buhari has disobeyed AT LEAST 40 court orders and violated #Nigeria's Supreme Court many times, including illegally removing a sitting CJN.
Why is ?5h/1k suddenly a bridge too far for some interest groups?
— Chxta (@Chxta) February 17, 2023
Nigerians are citing Endsars protest, border closure, Twitter ban and the federal government’s refusal to obey court orders to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) Nnamdi Kanu and the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) El-Zakzaky as popular cases of the federal government’s culture of disregard to the rule of law.
They said the APC’s desperate moves to stop the implementation of the naira redesign policy lend credence to assertions that the ruling party is planning to influence the result of the elections with money. It is believed that the governors have stored huge amounts of cash outside the banks ahead of the election.
A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has alleged that a certain APC governor in the Northwest has as much as N22 billion stockpiled at home for the election. The huge cash, which will be rendered useless following the implementation of the currency redesign policy – and the consequential outcome – defeat at the polls, is believed to be the reason the APC bigwigs are kicking.