El-Rufai challenges Buhari’s order on old banknotes
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna has said that the old banknotes comprising N200, N500, and N1, 000 would remain legal tenders in his state, contrary to President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal that only the smallest denomination is and should be recirculated into the economy.
The President, in his broadcast on Thursday, overruled the Supreme Court, which gave an injunction restraining the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria from enforcing the February 10 deadline for which the old notes would cease to be legal tenders.
But, El-Rufai, in his broadcast to residents of Kaduna, accused the attorney-general 0f the federation Abubakar Malami of misleading the President on the currency redesign Supreme Court ruling.
He said, “Even when confronted with the facts above, the CBN and its masters remain determined to implement their agenda no matter how much human suffering, death and destruction results.
“It is clear that the architects of this policy always had objectives that are totally in conflict with public interest, peace and the unity of Nigeria.
“They neither considered our suggestions in line with the Court order, nor respected the unanimous resolution of the Council of State.
“It is shocking to see the blatant violation of the subsisting and continuing order of the Supreme Court that ALL the old and new notes should continue to be legal tender until it gives judgment in the case filed by the Kaduna State Government along with several others.
“The Attorney-General to mislead the President into engaging in this public violation of the order of the highest court of the land shows how desperate the policy architects are to cause national chaos, by showing open contempt for the judiciary.
“These evil people using the instrumentality of the Federal Government and the President as convenient covers are willing to truncate our democracy because they have personally lost out.
“They are massively deploying resources and tools to defeat the political party that gave us the platform to serve the country just because they could not impose the candidates of their choice. Let us not help them. ”
