El-Rufai disregards Buhari orders on old naira notes for rule of law

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduma has thrashed President Muhammadu Buhari orders on old naira notes redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for want of rule of law.

El-Rufai made his stance hours after the president in a nationwide broadcast, said the old N500 and N1000 are no longer legal tender.

The president directed holders of the old N500 and N1000 notes respectively to the CBN or designated points.

Earlier, the supreme court had on Wednesday February 15, adjourned the hearing of the case brought before the apex court by ten State governments are challenging the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira swap policy on the naira redesign policy to Wednesday, February 22.

But on Thursday February 16th, the Governor El-Rufai, insisted that all old naira remain legal tender in Kaduna State remain a legal tender until the Supreme court decides otherwise.

Speaking during a broadcast on Thursday night, Governor El-rufai threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone who refuses to accept the old N500 and old N1000 notes in the State forthwith.

He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, all the old and new notes shall remain in use as legal tender in Kaduna State until the Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise.

“I therefore appeal to all residents of Kaduna State to continue to use the old and new notes side by side without any fear. The Kaduna State Government and its agencies shall seal any facility that refuses to accept the old notes as legal tender and prosecute the owners.

“If need be, we shall take further consequential actions according to the law. The address by the President earlier this morning limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200 amounts to total disregard and disobedience of the ruling of February 8th which was extended further yesterday by the Supreme Court.

“The misguided action of the Attorney-General to mislead the President into engaging in this public violation of the order of the highest court of the land shows how desperate the policy architects are to cause national chaos, by showing open contempt for the judiciary.

“The decision to recognise only N200 as legal tender till April that the President announced this morning was offered to the state governments as part of proposals for an out-of-court settlement three days ago.

“The Federal Government asserted that this was offered because all the ‘old’ N1,000 and N500 notes had been destroyed. We rejected the offer and proved to the officials that not a single higher denomination note had been destroyed.

“We also believe that circulating N200 only to be inadequate in alleviating the suffering that we see every day. We insisted that all the components of the Supreme Court order should be complied with”,/according to El-Rufai.

TheNewspad reports that in a previous statement said the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc will require at least 12 months to print the minimum amount of N1 trillion needed to ensure a functioning trade and exchange environment in Nigeria.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme court, adjourned the suit seeking to extend the deadline for the old currency swap, which was filed by some state governments to challenge the Central Bank of Naira naira redesign policy, till February 22, 2023.