The All Progressive Congress (APC) has called for the resignation of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, following the ruling of the Supreme Court on Friday, nullifying the controversial naira redesign policy.
The call was made by the National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the APC, Mallam Salihu Lukman, hours after the apex court’s judgment.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment, ordered the federal government to allow the old N200, N500 and N1,000 to co-circulate with the redesigned notes until December 31.
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Within the ruling APC, allegations have been flying that President Muhammadu Buhari was deceived into implementing the policy by Emefiele and Malami.
In a statement titled “Cashless Policy: Supreme Court Invalidates Actions of the Federal Government”, Lukman said the right thing for public office holders like Emefiele and Malami to do after such public office abuse was to accept their limitations and resign honorably.
“It is also unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari could be misled into such acts of illegality and abuse of executive powers as pronounced by the Supreme Court. We, and indeed all Nigerians, are grateful to the Supreme Court Justices led by Justice Akomaye for this landmark judicial intervention.
“Given the injurious nature of the consequences of the cashless policy of the Federal Government as was implemented thus far, and the damage of the Supreme Court ruling to the profile of President Buhari, Godwin Emefiele and Abubakar Malami must take personal responsibility for this act of illegality by the Federal Government. In advanced democracies, public officers who commit such acts of illegality voluntarily resign from their appointments.
“Therefore, if indeed, the cashless policy of the Federal Government was supposedly designed to conform with extant legal provisions of the Nigerian Federation, now that it turned out in the direct opposite, both the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Malami should accept the limitations of both their knowledge of the law and commitment to democracy by resigning from their respective offices forthwith. Rule of law is fundamental to democracy and individuals who flagrantly violate the laws or promote acts that breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must not be tolerated.”
El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, said on Friday that Emefiele introduced the naira redesign policy to help the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) win the 2023 general elections. He had earlier alleged that some elements in the presidency don’t want Bola Tinubu, APC’s presidential flagbearer, to win the just concluded February 25 presidential election.
The governor co-led the lawsuit challenging the naira redesign policy at the Supreme Court. Lukman applauded El-Rufai and other governors; Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State for challenging the federal government over the policy.
“On behalf of our party leaders and members from North-West, we salute our three Governors, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, Alh. Yahaya Bello and Alh. Bello Matawalle, respectively of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states for their courage and initiative to challenge the action of the Federal Government in the Supreme Court. It is a patriotic duty to challenge the policy of government, which unfortunately plunge Nigerians into hardship and unimaginable shock, notwithstanding partisan affiliations.
“By doing so, our leaders in APC led by Mallam Nasir, Alh. Yahaya Bello and Alh. Matawalle has once again demonstrated superior commitment to democracy. We call on Nigerians to take note of the fact that the crusade against the Federal Government cashless policy was led by APC, not minding the attempt to sensationally politicize it to the benefit of opposition political parties and their candidates in this election season.
“It is gratifying that Nigerians resisted the antics of subversive politicians who wanted to use such crude methods, including inflicting untold hardship and pains on Nigerians to provoke citizens into voting against the APC during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections,” he stated.
El-Rufai said on Friday after the Supreme Court ruling that Emefiele put the policy together to help the PDP win the 2023 general elections and deceived the President into thinking that it is possible to withdraw N2trillion from circulation and reprint everything in three months.
The presidency has not responded to the judgment, fueling concern that the federal government may disobey the Supreme Court once again. The federal government did not obey the February 8 ex parte order restraining the CBN from implementing its February 10 deadline fixed to phase out the old naira notes. But El-Rufai expressed optimism that the president will comply with the order this time.
“Whether the Federal Government obeys the order or not is up to the Federal Government but I know President Muhammadu Buhari very well. He is a man that respects the law,” he said.