Human Rights Activist, Femi Falana, criticised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly flouting the Supreme Court’s order suspending the deadline Naira notes swaps.
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), castigate the apex bank while speaking on Channels TV’s “The 2023 Verdict” on Tuesday in Lagos.
He also said the Federal Government was not ready to comply with the Supreme Court’s order.
There have been conflicting reports on the current status of the old naira notes due to the stance of CBN.
Reports say some banks had stopped collecting the old notes since Monday in compliance with the Feb. 10 deadline ordered by the CBN.
The Supreme Court, had on Feb. 8, granted an interim injunction restraining the apex bank and the Federal Government from implementing the Feb. 10 deadline.
Although the CBN has not openly made its stance known on the Supreme Court’s interim injunction, its “body language” portrays “non-committal”.
Meanwhile, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said there was no need shifting Feb. 10 deadline on the old note.
He said this at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday.
“In a country where the rule of law operates, once the Supreme Court has determined a matter or given an order, it is expected that all and sundry, everybody, will comply with the order,” Falana said.
He said that a statement credited to the CBN that it would not comply with the order of the apex court because it was not a party to the case could only be tenable in a “banana republic”.
”A statement was credited to the central bank that since it was not a party to the case, it’s not going to comply with the order.
”I thought that could only happen in a banana republic.
“I expected the central bank to have issued a statement following the order of the Supreme Court that: ‘all actions are stale until the 15th of February’,” he said.
Falana said that examples should be made of those flouting court orders, stressing that nobody should feel that they were above the law.
“For me, an example has to be made this time around, so that nobody will feel that he’s above the law in our country,” he said.
