By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami on Thursday dismissed with the wave of the hand insinuations that President Muhammadu Buhari has disobeyed the highest court in the country, insisting he has not acted in breach of the Supreme Court’s injunction preventing the federal government from imposing a deadline on the use of old Naira notes.
Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) stated this while speaking at the 67th Ministerial Press Briefing organised by the State House Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to the Chief Law Officer of the country, there are different ways of responding to the order of the Supreme Court and my answer to the question asked is the President is not in breach of the order of Supreme Court.
Prompt News recall that the Supreme Court had earlier this month issued an injunction restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and by extension the federal government
from giving effect to the deadline on the use of the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes.
The order followed an ex parte application brought before the Supreme Court by governments of three states- Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi-whose Governors have been more vocal in rejecting the CBN’s deadline for the old Naira notes to cease to be a legal tender in Nigeria.
Despite the Supreme Court’s order, Buhari had last week in a nationwide broadcast, instructed the CBN to re-circulate the old N200 note, announcing that the old N500 and N1,000 notes were no longer legal tender.
However, the President’s directives contained in his national broadcast have been misconstrued by mainly his All Progressives Congress (APC) members led Nasirel-Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kaduna and Kano states respectively.
But Speaking on the subject matter, Malami said: “Where an order is made by a court, you’ve multiple options but let me state before even addressing the issue of the options available at our disposal as a government.”
“The fact, clearly, that we aren’t in breach of any order made by the court, inclusive of any order associated with the naira redesign. We aren’t in breach”.
Explaining further he said: “I believe I am not a banker, but you’ve not gone to establish which bank is it that you’ve gone to present N1000 or N500 notes that have been rejected. So we are not in breach.
“We are doing the needful as a government in terms of ensuring that the right of the government, within the context of the naira redesign, is being protected. So we aren’t in breach.”
Meanwhile, 13 other states have joined in the suit against the federal government with Edo and Bayelsa states supporting the federal government in the case.
The Supreme Court has fixed March 3 to deliver judgment in the suit.
