CSOs reject S’ Court ruling on Naira swap, urges Buhari to issue Executive Order, as el-Rufai promises Tinubu’ll reverse policy
Anthony Iwuoma
The Civil Society Central Coordinating Council, the umbrella body of all civil society groups in Nigeria has kicked against the Ex-parte order made by the Supreme Court, barring the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari from implementing the deadline for the use of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 bank notes on February 10.
In an address read by the National Coordinator of the committee, Obed Okwukwe, in Abuja, the group urged President Buhari to consider issuing Executive Orders to enforce the deadline since the order of the apex court order did not restrain him from exercising his constitutional powers as the President.
The Council said its rejection of the Supreme Court order was because it was against credible elections and, therefore, advised the court not to become willi g tool in the hands of election riggers, who want to have access to illicit cash with which they would compromise the election.
They called on the apex court to vacate the order so that the credibility of the 2023 general election would not be imperiled.
“The Supreme Court must redeem its image immediately and show Nigerians that it is not deliberately against free, fair and credible elections bearing in mind some very controversial orders and judgments of the court in the recent past,” the group insisted.
Meanwhile, Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has urged the citizens to continue not to bother about the deadline, promising that the first decision the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would make if elected, would be to reverse the policy.
The governor, who spoke in Hausa language, according to NAN, said: “Everyone, especially people in Kaduna should not be disturbed because of the naira swap deadline. Continue running your businesses and daily activities with whatever notes (old or new) you have.
“And we will make sure to address this problem as soon as we win the election. That will be the first issue to tackle if we win the election.
“Don’t rush yourself into taking old naira notes to the bank and wasting your time in the unnecessary queues at the bank. Nobody can stop you (people) from using the notes.
“When we come to power (Insha Allah), if Bola Tinubu becomes the president, we’ll give people more time to get rid of the old naira notes.”
