The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has, after days of disobeying the Supreme Court judgment, directed commercial banks to accept and dispense old naira notes.
A statement seen by Dataphyte on Monday and signed by Acting Director, CBN Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, said the directive was given at the Bankers’ Committee meeting on Sunday.
The statement entitled, “Old N200, N500, and N1,000 Banknotes Remain Legal Tender – CBN,” noted that the directive was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s obedience to court orders.
“In compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterised the government of President Muhammad Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as a regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023,” the statement said.
“Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and has directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023. Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly.”
Emefiele on his own
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, might have relied on Buhari’s body language to create one of the worse cash crisis in Nigeria’s recent history. But a statement by the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Monday, might have jolted him, according to a market analyst, Ike Ibeabuchi, who spoke with Dataphyte at night.
“He must have suddently realised that he was on his own since Buhari seemed to have abandoned him. When he will be asked to answer for the sufferings he subjected Nigerians to, Buhari will have gone and nobody will be there to help him,” he noted.
Shehu had, on Monday night, after weeks of presiddential silence, said that Buhari did not direct Emefiele to disobey a recent Supreme Court judgment on the naira redesign policy.
“It is therefore wide off the mark to blame the President for the current controversy over the cash scarcity, despite the Supreme Court judgement. The CBN has no reason not to comply with court orders on the excuse of waiting for directives from the President,” Shehu said in a statement.
He said since President Buhari was sworn into office in 2015, he had never directed anybody to defy court orders in the strong belief that Nigeria would not practise democracy without the rule of law.
“Following the ongoing intense debate about the compliance concerning the legality of the old currency notes, the Presidency therefore wishes to state clearly that President Buhari has not done anything knowingly and deliberately to interfere with or obstruct the administration of justice.
“The President is not a micromanager and will not, therefore, stop the Attorney General and the CBN Governor from performing the details of their duties in accordance with the law. In any case. it is debatable at this time if there is proof of willful denial by the two of them on the orders of the apex court.
“The directive of the President, following the meeting of the Council of State. is that the Bank must make available for circulation all the money that is needed and nothing has happened to change the position. It is an established fact that the President is an absolute respecter of judicial process and the authority of the courts.”
Facts contradict Shehu’s verdict
However, the Supreme Court judgment and facts on ground contradict Shehu’s statement on Buhari’s obedience to court orders.
Some state governors had taken the Federal Government to court regarding the CBN’s shoddy implementation of the naira redesign policy. In its order of February 8, the apex court had directed the CBN to retain old naira notes as legal tenders pending when the judgment would be made. The CBN, however, failed to obey the judgment.
But on March 3, the apex court nullified the CBN’s naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront on the 1999 Constitution.
The court had held that President Buhari’s disobedience of the February 8 order was a sign of dictatorship, noting that his unconstitutional use of powers had breached the fundamental rights of the Nigerian citizens in many ways.
The court also ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would remain in circulation till December 31, 2023.
Buhari has failed to obey several court orders in his eight-year tenure. Amnesty Internation said Buhari had disobeyed 40 court orders between 2015 and 2019. The government has also refused to obey a recent Court of Appeal judgment freeing the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.