Naira redesign: FG not in breach of Supreme Court order, says Malami

By Egena Sunday Ode

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Thursday broke his silence over the raging allegations of breach of the Supreme Court order with respect to the naira redesign policy of the Federal Government.
He said point blank that the Federal Government had done no wrong and had not breached the order by the apex court or any other order associated with the naira swap policy.
Malami spoke Thursday as a guest at the weekly media briefing by Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs on the activities of government, organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said all that the government was doing was to ensure that its right within the context of Nigeria redesign policy is protected, by challenging the order of the apex court.
Recall that the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El Rufai and his Kogi and Zamfara states counterparts, Yahaya Bello and Bello Matawale respectively, had on February 8 approached the Supreme Court and obtained and order restricting the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government from banning N200, N500 and N1000 from circulation as legal tender.
The matter was adjourned for the second time on Wednesday, February 22 to March 3 for ruling.
Some of the governors in the dispute with the federal government have since announced to indigenes and residents in their states to continue to use the banned naira notes as legal tender in their domain, alleging that the Federal Government had flagrantly disobeyed the order or the apex court by refusing to recirculate the old naira notes.
Recall also that following the court order and ahead of the February 22 adjournment for hearing on the matter, President Buhari has last week Thursday made a nationwide broadcast where he insisted that the affected naira denominations had ceased to be legal tender after the grace period of February 10.
The President However, ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to bring back N200 notes into circulation in order to mitigate the hardships occasioned by naira scarcity following the implementation of the policy.
Fielding questions after his presentation on whether the federal government is in breach of the Supreme Court order as alleged, the Chief Law Officer said:
“Your question can best be answered within the context of what constitutes a rule of law in the Nigerian situation. Where an order is made by a court, you have multiple options, but let me state before even addressing the issue of the options available at our disposal as a government.
“The fact, clearly, is that we are not in breach of any order made by the court, inclusive of any order associated with the naira redesign. We are not in breach. I believe I’m not a banker, but you have not gone to establish which bank is it that you have gone to present a N1000 or N500 notes that has been rejected. So we are not breach.
“But then, assuming we are in breach, the fact remains that this matter is sub-judice, as you rightly know. It’s being contested before the Supreme Court and when an order is made, you have multiple options within the context of the rule of law.
“One, you are entitled as a matter of right, if the facts and evidence support your position, to apply for setting it aside. The position of the law, legal jurisprudence is clear, once you are attacking and you’re seeking for a setting aside of an existing order of the court, you cannot be said to be operating in breach when you’ve presented your application for setting aside.
“If the court is not an apex court, you equally have a right of appeal and can support the right of appeal with an application for stay of execution order. So the bottom line of what I’m trying to state, if the matter is sub-judice and within the context of the rule of law, 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 are not in breach.”
The Minister also explained that some of the impediments to reforms in the judiciary is the penchant for some people to disguise personal interest as national interest thereby swaying unsuspecting citizens.
He reeled out facts and statistics by the Buhari administration to enhance electoral process, including financial autonomy to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.