President Muhammadu Buhari has been given an idea how to overcome the Supreme Court’s ruling restraining the CBN and President Muhammadu Buhari from terminating the use of the old N200, N500 and N1000 bank notes. The Civil Society Central Coordinating Council, the apex body of all civil society groups in Nigeria while rejecting the apex court’s ruling said the president should invoke executive order, according to a report by Vanguard.
The group therefore called on President Buhari to immediately consider issuing Executive Orders to bring to effect the policy terminal date. According to the group which addressed a press conference in Abuja, the Supreme Court order did not restrain the exercise of the constitutional powers of the President. The Council further said their rejection of the order was because it was an attack on credible elections and call on the Supreme Court not to yield its platform for such election riggers to have access to illicit cash to compromise the election.
They also called on the apex court to immediately vacate the order as it was capable of derailing the credibility of the 2023 general election and ultimately truncating our most cherished democracy. 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.
“This order is only designed to help politicians in the sharing of old money during elections,” said the group’s National Coordinator, Obed Okwukwe at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday. Recall that the Supreme Court had earlier on Wednesday, restrained the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from implementing the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes to stop being legal tenders.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted the interim injunction after an ex parte filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara state governments. The court also held that the Federal Government and the CBN must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15.
