•Says disobedience to Supreme Court, treasonable

A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has called for the arrest of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for their alleged disobedience to a ruling of the Supreme Court ordering that old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes remain valid till December 31, 2023.

HURIWA, in a statement on Sunday, March 12, 2023, by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the failure of the AGF and the CBN Governor to expressly comply with the ruling of Nigeria’s apex court of March 3, 2023, was treasonable and a direct attack on the supremacy of Nigeria, adding that the affront should not be swept under the carpet.

The group, therefore, asked the Department of State Security to move in and arrest the duo.

HURIWA noted that that for over one week after the Supreme Court delivered its final ruling in the lawsuit on the old banknotes and extended their validity to December 31, 2023, the scarcity of the currency still persists across the states of the federation; adding that many Nigerians have refused to accept the old notes due to the failure of the CBN to make a pronouncement to that effect.

Nigerians who thronged banks said they were given old N500 and N1000 notes, but lamented that spending the money has not been easy as traders refused to collect them.

Some state governments, including Kaduna, Kogi, Kano, amongst others, have since warned that those who reject the old naira notes in contravention of the Supreme Court order would be jailed.

Meanwhile, some state governments are planning to initiate contempt proceedings against Malami and Emefiele over their refusal to implement the Supreme Court judgment on the naira redesign policy of the federal government.

Reports have it that the federal government was served with the enrolled order and Certified True Copy of last week’s Supreme Court judgment, which ordered that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 should be in circulation alongside the new notes till December 31, 2023.

HURIWA decried the silence President Muhammadu Buhari on the judgment of the apex court, alleging that it has fuelled the rejection of the old N1,000 and N500 as legal tender. The group gave examples of how, penultimate Monday, some banks commenced paying customers the old notes in partial compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, but by Wednesday of the same week, the banks stopped disbursing the old notes as the CBN insisted that it had not given any directive to that effect, a move the group described as a treasonable.

HURIWA’s statement reads in part: “The flagrant disobedience and arrogance of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; and the Attorney -General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, after the Supreme Court order is condemnable and treasonable.

“No individual is greater than the Nigerian State and those who think that they are, should be met with resistance and the punishment that they deserve. For Section 37 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria provided that any person who levies war against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the state (here being Nigeria) is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.

“Now that cash has dried up in most banks in states due to what senior bankers described as the inability of the CBN to supply them with new naira notes, protests have started to break up in the country. This can threaten the security of the entire nation and the Department of State Services should not fold its arms and watch while Malami and Emefiele plunge Nigeria into chaos and untold hardship.

“HURIWA demands the arrest of CBN Governor, the AGF Malami and their trial for treason for failing to comply with the judgment of the highest court in Nigeria. HURIWA also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be democratic and obey the Supreme Court because the apex court on March 3 also pronounced that the February 16, 2023 declaration by the President is dictatorial.”

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