Emefiele, Others Should Be Charged With Contempt Of Court For Ignoring Supreme Court Ruling

…CBN Keeps Mum On Supreme Court Ruling

Muda Yusuf, the Director-General of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises has said that the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria to address Nigerians on the Supreme Court judgment that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes should remain in use till the end of December 2023 may amount to contempt.

Yusuf made the comment on Monday following CBN’s failure to issue a statement to the public to address the ongoing confusion among the members of the public.

On Friday, the apex court ordered the usage of the old naira notes alongside the new ones, berating the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria for punishing Nigerians with naira scarcity.

The prolonged battle began when Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara state governors secured an exparte motion restraining the CBN from withdrawing the legal tender status of the old N1,000 and N500 notes on February 10, 2023.

But the apex bank ignored the order of the Supreme Court. The President however extended the validity of the old N200 notes to circulate with the old notes.

Since the ruling on Friday, the CBN and the Attorney General of the Federal have not commented on the matter.

Nigerians have also rejected the notes due to the prolonged silence of the CBN.

Yusuf said in an interview with THE WHISTLER that any attempt to remain silent over the matter would set a bad precedent.

The former DG of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “Failure by the President, Attorney-General of the Federation, and the CBN governor to comply with the Supreme Court judgment would amount to contempt of court. It also amounts to a serious breach of the Nigerian constitution. It would be a very bad precedent.

“The judgment is very clear and unambiguous. My expectation was that by Monday morning, the CBN would have made an announcement to the effect that the old notes would remain legal tender till the end of the year in line with the Supreme Court judgment. If the CBN did not make such an announcement, by the close of work today then the CBN governor and the Attorney General should be committed for contempt.

“There is a need for the court to invoke its powers to demonstrate the fact that no person is above the law.”

According to the CPPE boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Attorney General of the federation would comply with this court order in the interest of the rule of law, good order, and public interest.

He lamented that the CBN currency redesign policy inflicted indescribable agony, suffering and distress on the majority of Nigerian citizens.

“The trouble was not with the redesign, but the deliberate and unrestrained mopping up of cash in the economy. To date the CBN had mopped up about N2 trillion cash from the economy thereby paralyzing the retail sector, crippling the informal economy, stifling the agricultural value chain, immobilizing the transportation sector and disrupting the payment system in the economy,” he added.

THE WHISTLER also contacted the Director of Corporate Communications of the CBN, Isa AbdulMunin who said “there is no official directive” regarding the apex court ruling.

“We will communicate as soon as there is a directive,” he said.