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| A photo combination of Festus Keyamo and President Muhammadu Buhari |
The spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Festus Keyamo, has alluded to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on the naira swap policy being ill-advised.
Buhari, in a Thursday national broadcast on the controversial policy, ordered that the old N200 banknotes remain in circulation till April 10, while the old N500 and N1,000 bills no longer serve as legal tender.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) first set the policy
in motion in October 2022, issuing a redesign of the three highest
denominations of the naira, which was officially completed and unveiled
in November 2022.
The initial deadline of January 31, 2023 was later extended to
February 10, but with the governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara
approaching the Supreme Court, an interim order was given putting the
policy’s implementation on hold.
The ensuing currency scarcity has led to protests across the country
with several cases of ATMs destroyed, as well as banking facilities and
property damaged.
“My view is that the President acted
honestly without intention to slight the Supreme Court,” Keyamo said
during a live appearance on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Friday. “But he may have acted on wrong advice.”
He added, “I did not give that advice; it is not my responsibility. I don’t know who gave that advice. I want to say this openly because tomorrow, people will ask me where I stood at this time.”
The Minister of State for Labour
stated that Buhari’s speech acknowledged that there were certain matters
in court and that the President believed he was playing safe by
purportedly intervening to quell the growing tension across the country.
“He thought he was playing safe by
saying, ‘Before you decide this matter in court, may I just provide some
middle ground so that country burning, there are riots everywhere, so
let me just try and provide some succour to the people, whilst
acknowledging the matters are in court.’
“Now, if I were to advise him, I
would have advised differently. I did not advise him. It’s not my
responsibility; I don’t know who.”
Asked what his counsel to the President would have been, Keyamo said
it would be for him to “comply strictly with the terms of the order of
the Supreme Court, [which is that] all the old notes should circulate
for now side by side with the new notes because that is the order of the
Supreme Court.”
He added that by virtue of the constitution, “all authorities in
Nigeria must obey the orders of the Supreme Court, “adding that anything
to the contrary is “a descent to anarchy.”
According to him, the day people begin to disobey the order of the
Supreme Court is an invitation to “revolutionary intervention or other
kinds of interventions” in the nation’s democracy.
He described the judiciary and the Supreme Court as the last bastion to defend Nigeria’s democracy.
‘True Federalism’
Keyamo also addressed the allegations of treason against governors, including those of Kaduna and Kano, who have warned that severe action would be taken against corporate entities in their states that reject the old notes.
“It’s federalism in action. Those who are clamouring for true
federalism – this is true federalism in action. People are thinking that
this is the first time that governors of the APC are taking the
President to court. It’s not,” he said.
“On various issues, they have always challenged the President in
court. It doesn’t affect their amity; it doesn’t affect the cohesion of
the party; it doesn’t affect the cohesion of these individuals.”
In his assessment, the minister stated that the President “at times”
approves of the institutions set up by the constitution to resolve
disputes, adding that the courts are there to resolve disputes.
“Don’t forget that the governors took the President to court over
certain executive orders that he gave, I think regarding the state
judiciaries and legislature and they won at the Supreme Court,” he said.
