Headlines
2023: Anarchy looms, as APC govs confront President Buhari
By OBINNA EZUGWU
In what could be a recipe for anarchy ahead of Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections, some governors of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) have challenged the authority of President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to manage the country’s currency, as crisis over naira scarcity caused by the currency redesign policy of the government continues to escalate.
But it’s a war that started long before the ruling party’s presidential primary, which produced Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, as candidate.
Business Hallmark gathered that what is playing out with the currency redesign policy is the fallout of a rebellion against Buhari, led by Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, prior to the APC presidential primary.
Buhari, it was gathered, had wanted Goodluck Jonathan – his predecessor, who is only entitled to four years and lacks the capacity to upturn his policies – as his successor, but the governors rejected the idea.
Subsequently, he opted for Ahmad Lawan, the senate president on the eve of the primary, but nine northern APC governors, led by El-Rufai, a number of whom wanted to be vice president, ganged up against him and insisted on power shift to the south.
Left with no option, Buhari allowed the governors to have their way, and Tinubu emerged candidate, after allegedly spending hugely during the primary election.
But having allegedly ‘bought’ the party’s presidential flag, Buhari, according to sources, is determined to ensure that the former governor – who is alleged to have moved billions to different states for vote-buying – doesn’t buy his way to power, hence the naira redesign policy, which has now set his government and the governors on collision course, and driven the country to the brink of anarchy.
But currency management is in the exclusive legislative list, which means that it is strictly the business of the federal government and its agency charged with the specific responsibility, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Section 17 of the CBN Act 2007, provides that the Bank “shall have the sole right of issuing currency notes and coins throughout Nigeria and neither the Federal Government nor any State Government, Local Government, other person or authority shall issue currency notes, bank notes or coins or any documents or tokens payable to bearer on demand being document or token, which are likely to pass as legal tender.”
Subsection (3), however, provides that notwithstanding the above, the apex bank, “if directed to do so by the President and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with to which a notice has been given under this Sub- section, shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be legal tender, but, subject to section 22 of this Act, shall be redeemed by the Bank upon demand.”
Section 19. (1) of the Act further says, “The Currency notes and coins issued by the Bank shall be-
(a) in such denominations of the Naira or fractions thereof as shall be approved by the President on the recommendation of the Board; and (b) of such forms and designs and bear such devices as shall be approved by the President on the recommendation of the Board.”
Notwithstanding the provisions of the law, following the apex bank’s currency redesign policy, which has created naira scarcity and attendant hardship on Nigerians, with protests and arson already being witnessed in various states, the governors jumped into the fray, after attempts to convince the president to backtrack were rebuffed by him.
On February 3, governors of Kaduna, El-Rufai; Kogi, Yahaya Bello, and Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, dragged Buhari’s government to the Supreme Court and sought a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the naira redesign policy.
In a motion ex-parte filed before the apex court, the three states prayed the court to grant an interim injunction stopping the CBN from ending the timeframe within which the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes will cease to be legal tender.
The plaintiffs argued since the announcement of the policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new naira notes in their states, adding that citizens, who have dutifully deposited their old currency notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access the new notes for their daily activities.
The three governors were subsequently joined in the suit by those of Kano, Ondo and Niger, while governors of Edo and Bayelsa, who are of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), joined the federal government in its own suit, in support of the naira redesign policy.
On Wednesday February 10, a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court restrained the Federal Government from implementing.
The panel led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, which has since become contentious, granted an interim injunction restraining the FG, and commercial banks from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender.
The court further held that the FG, and commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15. When hearing resumed on Wednesday, February 15, the apex court asked all parties to maintain status quo, while adjourning the case to February 22.
But, while the press went to town with reports that the old notes remained legal tender, as par the decision of the Supreme Court, President Buhari addressed the nation on Thursday, February 16, during which he directed the apex bank to recirculate only N200 notes to help ease the suffering of Nigerians, while maintaining that N500 and N1000 ceased to be legal tender on February 10, and could only be redeemed at CBN offices.
The president’s decision has since triggered a legal tsunami. Some lawyers have argued that it amounted to contempt of court, but others insist that such is not the case since according to them, the federal government cannot negotiate naira policy with states.
APC Governors’ Challenge
Since the federal government muted the idea of naira redesign – a policy observers have argued is meant primarily to check vote-buying by politicians, who have allegedly stashed away billions of naira for the purpose – there’s consternation in the camp of APC governors.
While their interest may not go beyond winning elections, the governors have found the suffering of Nigerians on account of the policy, as a politically correct reason to fight same, and by extension, President Buhari, and have begun what some observers have described as treason, and which could potentially trigger anarchy, even as the country’s political atmosphere gets more charged, with escalating protests heightening fear of civil unrest, few days to the election.
Hours after Buhari’s broadcast on Thursday, El-Rufai did a statewide broadcast in Kaduna, during which he challenged the authority of President, insisting that the old notes remain legal tender in the state until Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all the old and new notes shall remain in use as legal tender in Kaduna State until the Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise,” he said.
“I, therefore, appeal to all residents of Kaduna State to continue to use the old and new notes side by side without any fear. The Kaduna State Government and its agencies shall seal any facility that refuses to accept the old notes as legal tender and prosecute the owners.
“If need be, we shall take further consequential actions according to the law. The address by the President earlier this morning limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200 amounts to total disregard and disobedience of the ruling of February 8th, which was extended further yesterday by the Supreme Court.
“The misguided action of the Attorney-General to mislead the President into engaging in this public violation of the order of the highest court of the land shows how desperate the policy architects are to cause national chaos, by showing open contempt for the judiciary.”
The Kaduna governor subsequently alleged that the naira redesign policy was part of a plot by individuals, including some former generals, to disrupt the elections and form interim government, a claim that has been dismissed by the presidency.
Following El-Rufai’s broadcast, Abubakar Badaru’s government in Jigawa State, also challenged the authority of President Buhari over the old naira notes. In a public announcement published on Friday by Alhaji Bala Ibrahim, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Youths, Sports and Culture, the government said anyone rejecting old notes is disobeying court order and would be made the face the law.
The Jigawa State government said it “wishes to inform members of the Public that, it has come to its notice some individuals and corporate bodies are rejecting the now-old N200, N500 and N1000 notes. The Jigawa State Government is concerned about the conduct of such individuals and corporate bodies.
“As a law-abiding government, there are suits by various State Governments of which Jigawa State is among before the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The court has issued an order restraining the Federal Government of Nigeria, either by itself or acting through the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and/or commercial banks, ministries, parastatals, organisations or through any person or persons (natural and artificial) howsoever, from suspending or determining or ending on 10 February, 2023 the time frame within which the now older versions of the 200, 500 and 1000 denominations of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“Jigawa State Government respects the rights of its people and those rejecting the now-old currencies are enjoined to desist from disobeying the law and causing hardship to the people of Jigawa State. Jigawa State Government will not hesitate to use section 287(1) of the Constitution (as amended) and other extant laws to enforce the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“For clarity, the section provides, “The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court”. People are advised to report any traders or business organisation that refuses to accept the now-old N200, N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender in Jigawa State to the nearest appropriate authorities.”
Similarly, Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State governor, on Friday, vowed to withdraw the certificate of occupancy (C of O) of any corporation or store that refuses to accept old naira notes.
The governor, who issued the threat via his verified Twitter handle, said, “The Ogun State Government will be revoking the certificate of occupancy, CofO, of any corporation or store that rejects old Naira notes from members of the public in the State in exchange for goods and services. Commercial outlets are hereby reminded that there is an existing court order by the Supreme Court, the apex court in Nigeria, directing that old notes remain legal tender.”
Governors of Lagos, Ekiti, Kano and Kogi have also maintained that the old notes remain legal tender pending the decision of the Supreme Court, while also threatening to sanction businesses, which reject the notes.
“[It’s] Deja’vu. In 1999, ANPP governors declared sharia because they lost election to OBJ. In 2023, some APC governors are declaring war because they fear they will lose another election,” noted scholar and director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Dr. Sam Amadi. “They have taken over monetary policy and currency management from President Buhari.”
Last week, 10 APC governors officially approached the Supreme Court again to stop the naira swap policy.
Lawyers Divided
Meanwhile, following Buhari’s address on Thursday, there’s been arguments over whether his insistence that old N500 and N1000 notes were no longer legal tender amounted to contempt of court. In a statement to Business Hallmark on Friday, Dr. Monday Ubani, human rights lawyer, argued that President’s decision is tantamount to contempt of court.
Ubani, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), noted that President should have allowed the judicial process to run through.
According to him, “the President’s announcement this morning to the country is in clear contempt of the Supreme Court’s earlier order restraining the government from deadlining the old currency notes of 200, 500 and 1000, respectively until the application on notice before it is heard.”
Ubani said that Buhari’s “intervention though well-intended, as posited by some economists, sends a dangerous signal in our democracy. The international community are watching to see how much we mess our system up. It is ill-advised and no lawyer worth his salt should make unfounded allegation of bribery as reason to undermine the judiciary.
“The macro and micro economic benefits of this naira redesign may be altruistic and good for economic growth in the long run but the poor implementation strategy that have occasioned hardship has taken the shine off the good intentions.”
However, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, lawyer and former Chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, maintained that Buhari didn’t disobey the Supreme Court, as according to him, the federal government cannot negotiate with states on policies relating to the national currency.
Speaking on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television, Odinkalu a human rights lawyer, said a court does not have the power to give directives on the currency system of a country.
“The Supreme Court to the best of my knowledge, has not said what people are presenting to it, because that is not the province of a court. It is a misplacement of the capabilities and assets of a court for it to get to that kind of thing,” he said.
“I suspect what the Supreme Court has said is ‘preserve the status quo ante until we hear the case’ — status quo antebellum, which is what the thing was before the onset of litigation.
“Now, the question then becomes what was the status quo antebellum that you are trying to preserve?
“And this is where the laziness of the judicial system, as well as the limitations of the law, actually come to full view because status quo ante bellum actually, was the central bank circular on exactly when this thing should stop. I suspect this is the advice the president got. He has not breached anything.
“A currency system cannot be legislated or ordered into existence by a court and every court has to be careful about how it uses or abuses its authority and competence.
“A currency system is a promise backed up by the guarantee of a central bank, which is such basis of monetary economics.
“If the central bank that guarantees a monetary system withdraws its support, you cannot legislate that into existence because the trust that backed up that monetary system has collapsed. One million Supreme court orders will not bring into existence a currency system that has lost legitimacy.
“The core of a government’s credibility, national or international, is three things — defence and security, foreign affairs, and currency.
“On this matter, I think President Buhari is fighting for the last thing a government should fight for, and on that, he is well within his rights to do so.
“I don’t think it is proper for state governors to go around, issue orders countermanding a president on exactly the thing that a central government cannot negotiate — money and currency.
“And quite frankly, what the governors are doing in this matter, verges on treason. You cannot be telling a president to yield up his authority over currency systems. That is not negotiable at all.”
Similarly, Yemi Candide-Johnson, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, noted that the pronouncements by the governors that the old naira notes remain legal tender amounted to “abrogation of the power of the federal government to regulate currency in the country.”
He warned that upturning the fundamental aspects of the constitution is a precursor to anarchy, while also arguing that the president’s decision not to obey the Supreme Court is a constitutional issue, whose outcome remains to be seen.
He wondered, while speaking on Arise TV on Friday, why the CBN would redesign the currency in the lead up to an election, querying the rationale behind “provoking constitutional crisis at the time of an election,” which according to him, is usually a volatile period.
