HUMAN rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has slammed the Federal Government for defying a Supreme Court order to allow the use of old naira notes.
The Supreme Court recently ordered that the old N500 and N1,000 notes will remain legal tender until December, months after the Federal Government began a currency redesign policy.
Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stated that the deadline for the use of old notes could not be extended, the presidency declared yesterday that the apex bank had no cause to defy the order.
In delving into the issue, Falana stated that the Federal Government hadnot instructed banks to begin issuing and collecting old banknotes.
“The Central Bank has not been asked to make a statement allowing banks to comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court. Again, as I said before now, this can only happen in a banana republic. You cannot dance around the judgement of the Supreme Court otherwise, you are saying you don’t want the rule of law to operate in your country,” he said while fielding questions on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“It is very sad. I do hope that this outgoing government would comply with the judgement in totality.”
He added that President Muhammad Buhari-led Federal Government has a record of disobeying court orders, citing several instances.
“So, we have such cases very many,” Falana maintained, adding that the Supreme Court order admitted that “this government has a history of disobeying court orders”.
Falana, who also spoke about the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections, said the exercise showed power belongs to the people.
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