President Mohammadu Buhari and Godwin Emefiele of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deliberate refusal to obey court orders has caused deeper controversy and avoidable crises resulting in burning and loss of lives.
It is, even more, inciting that even after receiving reports on the chaos generated by the crisis on Wednesday last week, Buhari in his state broadcast still insists on aggravating the brewing public unrest by maintaining that CBN bans the collection of old notes while the new notes can’t be accessed by the masses.
Why will an elected president refuse to obey an order of the Supreme Court? The motive behind PDP governors of Edo and Bayelsa joining Emefiele and Buhari to thwart the good efforts of the Supreme Court is painful.
The new notes and old notes are not in circulation. Those who suffer this are downtrodden. Many families have no food at home. The bank’s refusal to accept old notes is clear evidence that Emefiele and Buhari have no respect for the rule of law.
Emefiele is an ignorant certificated banker hence he wouldn’t comply with the order of the Supreme Court. A man who has no respect for rule of law is unfit to hold any public office and such a person deserved to be in jail.
Any federal or state institution that refused to obey the Supreme Court order is not only ignorant but still living in Stone Age. Even after the Supreme Court order, Emefiele still has the audacity to announce to the public that the 10th February 2023 deadline is irreversible.
I condemn criminality and burning of public places and any violence but the truth must be said, Emefiele must be held accountable for all the losses that accompanied the protests and loss of lives.
The blood of anyone killed over Buhari and Emefiele’s rascality will be in their hands.
If they have not come out to make a public statement re-emphasizing the 10th February 2023 deadline there would not have been any violent protests to cause the burning of banks and the killing of hungry Nigerians. No one deserves to die for a change of old notes to new notes.
No responsible person should applaud them for destruction.
Emefiele should be held accountable for the damages associated with this malicious policy. How can a Federal institution such as the Central Bank of Nigeria disobey an order of The Supreme Court? Who is Emefiele?
Is he above the Supreme Court order? He must be the greatest fool to have voided the Supreme Court order without approaching the Supreme Court to set aside its order before asking banks to stop receiving old notes.
The Attorney General of Nasarawa State has now filed an application in this regard, asking the Supreme Court to order them to comply or be contemptuous. That is why few of us are doing what we are doing since the downtrodden are docile, weak, and afraid to speak and confront the government.
There is no country in this 21st century that disobeys the order of her highest court. The non-circulation of the old notes and new notes has strangulated the lives of the downtrodden masses.
As said by Engr Kesiena Gbemre,
“The masses are the cause of their own problems. People woke up and said they would reject old money when the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court. The masses are the instrument of their own destruction.
“I just feel this is a cunning plan or action designed by the politicians who will use scarcity of the old and new notes to gain the support of the masses because they are the only ones with access to new notes and old notes.
“How can the CBN governor disobey Supreme Court order? What a country are we! Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state is angry that Buhari’s led administration is disobeying Supreme Court orders and could not hide his feelings when Tinubu paid a courtesy call on him immediately after his campaign in Port-Harcourt.
Wike lambasted the federal government for refusing to obey Supreme Court orders and this will make others disobey Court orders/judgments.
Emefiele is too outdated to be governor of a sensitive highest banking sector. It is only in the Stone Age era that such disobedience of Supreme Court order/judgment could have happened. Emefiele and his family should be ashamed of themselves.
His kinsmen should be ashamed of his misconduct. Does he think Buhari will be in power throughout life? Why can’t he learn from the past mistakes of others? What a stone-hearted CBN governor! If the new notes are not available then what is the motive for the April 10th deadline?
The pronouncement that only old 200 notes will be in circulation for 60 days and stop to be legal tender on 10th April 2023 doesn’t address the problems since the new 500 and 1000 notes are not seen in the banking hall and ATMs.
The president’s address doesn’t address the Supreme Court interim order since the order doesn’t state what old notes are to be accepted or not to be accepted. No elected president will deliberately disobey the Court order and give self-pass marks on complying with rule of law.
Of what relevance are Buhari’s broadcast and his sanctimoniousness if those he rules are killed of starvation? Inflation can’t be controlled with the crudeness of the haste to end the circulation of old notes. The masses suffer the consequences of this wrong action. When you import every item with dollars then how do you improve your economy?
As once narrated by Kesiena Gbemre,
“The new Naira redesign by CBN under President Buhari’s government has been a controversial issue since its implementation in January 2023. The central bank governor, Emefiele stated that the redesign of the new notes would help improve the value of the Naira, curb banditry as most of their cash will be useless, and facilitate Nigeria’s transition to a cashless society.
“With the general elections being so close to implementation of this policy, it also appears like a political decision. However, I want to focus on the financial aspects and social implications of this decision. It has been reported that over a Trillion Naira has entered the banking system since this policy was made but there have not been any positive shifts in the valuation of the Naira.
“On the parallel money markets the Naira is still trading at about 743 Naira to 1 dollar. Prior to this policy due to the inefficiency of bank ATM machines, Nigerians used POS operators for cash withdrawals at a premium (fee). This policy to go cashless without any infrastructure in place has further increased that premium on POS.
“The cashless system is wrong but from my observations, the countries that operate in that manner have the extensive infrastructure in place to facilitate daily transactions, so I believe building a payment system powered by e- Naira that can be distributed to merchants would have been an ideal first step. The value of the Naira does not change because of cash in circulation.
Nigeria is not a tourist destination, most expatriates are paid in dollars, and some Nigerian organizations request payment in dollars. Therefore on the global market, there is no demand for Naira and as a consequence, the value depreciates. Nigeria has no obligation for trading partners to buy natural resources in Naira. This is critical because the United States currently operates what is called the “petrodollar”.
The name comes from the fact that Saudi Arabia only sells oil in dollars which creates an incredibly high demand for the dollar. Even when the United States sanctioned Russia at the start of the ongoing Ukraine conflict, Vladimir Putin quickly imposed a policy of only selling natural gas in Russian ruble and as a result, the sanctions were inconsequential on the economy of Russia.”
Buhari and Emefiele lack understanding of the hardships the downtrodden are going through as a result of a policy that will increase hardships. The new notes are not available. The old 200 notes that will be allowed in circulation can’t address this scarcity of the new notes.
Buhari is a President Nigerians shouldn’t have elected. He doesn’t understand the pains and suffering of those he is supposed to lead. A president who selects court orders/judgments to obey or not to obey is a failure.
Buhari’s address disappointingly never touched on fuel scarcity. How could he not talk about his failure to manage fuel which has been another burden on the suffering masses? He has no sympathy for the poor masses. Nigeria got it all wrong to have elected a dictator as President.
With three months to go, he has not realized the importance of good leadership. From fuel scarcity to money scarcity. As for Emefiele, for selling the outdated policy to his boss, he will pay for his sins. He shall pay for misleading a bad leader. Buhari will not be in power for more than three months from now. Nemesis awaits Buhari and Emefiele.
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