Anthony Iwuoma
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola SAN, has differed with critics of President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly disobeying order of the Supreme Court and directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to act contrary to the apex Court’s order.
Reacting to a recent statement made by Festus Keyamo SAN, who is chief Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Fashola, who appeared on Television Continental (TVC), on Sunday, said the President’s directive on the Naira redesign policy was not a direct affront to the Supreme Court.
His views were contrary to Keyamos, who said President Buhari acted in breach of the Supreme Court order when he directed the CBN in a nationwide broadcast, last Thursday, when he directed the CBN to bring back only the old N200 in circulation for 60 days while the old N500 and N1,000 cease to be legal tender.
- However, Fashola noted that although the Naira swap policy needed to be reviewed, President Buhari’s action was to help reduce the pains and sufferings of Nigerians, who had become unintended victims of the policy.
“Let me say that in a democracy where there is a right to speak freely, there’s bound to be a divergence of views, as you have had. But I think that the principle about respecting and awaiting the outcome of a court decision sometimes has been stretched, if I may use that word,” the minister said.
“There is also a lot of jurisprudence and scholarship about the boundaries of contempt in actions done and in things said. If I shut the door on your finger, and you went to court to say that the court should direct me to remove or open the door, do I say let’s wait for the outcome of the court decision when you are in pain, and people are in pain?
“The question to ask is if I attempt to open that door, would you, the person in pain, say I was acting in contempt or would you gladly have me open the door and then go back to the court and say the matter we have resolved it? “And that is another angle to look at this thing because I think that whatever interventions the president sought to make were interventions in response to the very palpable pain and I think he said that much in his speech about the unintended consequences of the policy.”
According to Fashola, what the Federal Government did was to mop-up Nigeria’s currency and not a money swap.
He noted that Nigeria had seamlessly changed notes some 15 years ago, wondering why it did not cause much pain then, as the current ordeal.