A Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive limiting the legal tender status of old Naira notes to only N200, describing it as a frontal call to chaos, anarchy and national upheaval.
Ozekhome, in a statement, said Buhari’s broadcast to the nation literally overruled the Supreme Court of the land, in a way and manner only a military tyrant could ever contemplate.
The statement titled ‘President Buhari Cannot Overrule the Supreme Court’, Ozekhome said what the President did was a direct assault on the authority of the Supreme Court.
He added that Buhari’s “imperious order was a frontal call to chaos, anarchy and national upheaval.”
He described the President’s broadcast more in the form of a military Decree, that, “in line with section 20(3) of the CBN Act, 2007, all existing old N1,000 and N500 notes remain redeemable at the CBN and designated points.”
According to him, the President’s directive was a clear violation of and disobedience to the existing order of the apex court which had already maintained the status quo ante bellum of all parties involved in the Naira re-design dispute.
Continue Transactions with Old Notes, Abiodun Tells Ogun Residents
Meanwhile the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Friday called on the people and residents of the state to continue spending the old Naira notes, saying that it is only the Supreme Court of Nigeria that has the final say in the matter.
Abiodun, who made the call in Abeokuta during an engagement with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the Supreme Court had made a pronouncement that the status quo should remain, hence the need for the people to continue with the old notes.
He said, “There is a court order from the Supreme Court, the highest court in our land, that says the status quo should be maintained on the matter of these new Naira notes. So, I appeal to you not to be violent, but go ahead and spend the old Naira notes.
“I want to apologise for the level of hardship that all of us are facing at this point in time in this country. I want you to know that as your governor, I have no hand in it, neither do I or any of our colleagues have any part to play in this.”
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