Follow The Supreme Court’s Instructions, The Arewa Forum Urges Buhari.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the leading socio-cultural organization in the north, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling that the old naira notes will continue to be valid until December 31, 2023, in order to prevent a crisis in Nigeria.
The forum claimed in a statement released on Sunday by its secretary-general, Aliyu Murtala, that President Buhari is sworn to uphold the Nigerian constitution and that the much-touted advantages of the redesigned naira cannot ever outweigh the harm to his reputation as a democrat and a staunch supporter of the rule of law.
According to ACF, “Just ten days ago, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that President Muhammadu Buhari violated the Nigerian Constitution by ordering the Central Bank to redesign the Naira without first engaging the National Council of States and the Federal Executive Council.
The court went on to decide that the President’s illegal exercise of his authority in relation to the redesign of the naira violated the inhabitants of Nigeria’s basic rights in a number of different ways.
“The state governors have consistently stated that the strategy that allowed the CBN to impose a ban on the circulation of old N500 and N1,000 notes while failing to provide adequate replacements had caused a major cash shortage and economic turmoil.
“It has caused food prices and the price of other necessities to skyrocket. People struggle to get the new currency, which has remained very scarce, while large groups and lengthy lines gather outside bank offices and ATM locations around the nation. Riots and other types of civil disturbance have been started as a result.
Citing the State governors who reject the program, ACF said that the CBN’s present strategy raises questions about the respect for Nigerians’ civil freedoms and rights, particularly with regard to their ability to spend legally obtained money as they like.
According to ACF, “they think that the CBN is really implementing a strategy of ‘Naira Confiscation’ that might potentially trigger a fatal depression.
“Monday, March 13, 2023, marks the tenth day after the Supreme Court of Nigeria declared that the CBN’s Naira Redesign strategy is illegal and that it should no longer be implemented. Whatever the CBN or anybody else says about the policy’s benefits—which are undoubtedly numerous—it is of little consolation once the nation’s highest court has determined that it is, or at the very least, that the way it is being implemented violates the law.
