The ruling All Progressives Congress on Tuesday explained
why it could not mete out sanction to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria,
Godwin Emefiele, for defying the Supreme Court verdict on the controversial
cash swap policy.
The scarcity of the new naira notes brought about by the CBN
policy had generated tension and visited untold hardship on the masses.
In the last two months, a considerable number of Nigerians
have thrown caution to the wind and invaded several banks to register their
displeasures in bizarre manners.
Viral video clips of half-clad customers breaking down bank
gates and threatening to beat officials have surfaced on social media space.
The situation forced a number of states including three
notable APC governors, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna; his Kano State counterpart, Dr
Abdullahi Ganduje and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara to file a suit against
Emefiele and the President, Muhammadu Buhari, at the Supreme Court.
The cash squeeze created bad blood between the presidency
and the camp of the APC, with many alleging that it was a subtle move to
scuttle the presidential ambition of the party candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Consequently, the Supreme Court ruled that the old N200,
N500a nd N1,000 notes should be allowed to co-exist with the new one until
December 31.
The apex court further held that the President’s directive
on the redesign of the new notes without due consultation was invalid.
But the CBN failed to heed the verdict and threw Nigerians
into another round of confusion and harrowing experience.
In an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday, the National
Publicity Secretary of APC, Felix Morka, explained that as much as Emefiele was
one of the party aspirants who bought presidential nomination forms, the
decision to hire or fire him rests with the President.
He said, “Emefiele was hired by the president and he serves
at the pleasure of the president. So no one person or a group of persons even
in the party has the authority to hire and fire the CBN governor. That is the
exclusive prerogative of the president.
“The president has its power as constituted by law and under
the CBN Act as well. As I earlier said, everything concerning the hiring and
firing of the CBN governor rests with the president. The position of the party
on that is irrelevant. He makes the decision as he chooses.”
Meanwhile, Buhari has denied instructing Emefiele and the
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to defy the Supreme Court
Order on the naira redesign policy.
Buhari made the disclaimer in a series of tweets posted by
the presidency on Monday evening.
According to him, the apex bank has no reason not to comply with court orders on the excuse of waiting for directives.
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