Supreme Court ruling on naira: APC  asks Emefiele, Malami to resign

The North West zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, to resign for “misleading” President Muhammmadu Buhari on the naira redesign and swap policy.

The Supreme Court on Friday validated the use of N200, N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender till December 31, 2023.

The suit was instituted against the Federal Government by Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) and Yahaya Bello (Kogi), following the hardship being experienced by Nigerians as a result of the policy.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling in a statement on Friday in Abuja, the APC’s National Vice Chairman North-West, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, said, “It is unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari could be misled into such acts of illegality and abuse of executive powers as pronounced by the Supreme Court.

“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 Muhammadu Buhari, the governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and AGF, Mr. 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 AGF, 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.

“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.”