By Daniel Tyokua
The Coalition of Northern Groups has said the response of the presidency, directing the Central Bank of Nigeria to heed to the Supreme court judgement and commence issuing of old naira notes to Nigerians was deceptive and insincere.
The coalition said it was worrisome that days after the said directive by the President, the naira scarcity situation showed no sign of abating.
“Instead, the situation is worsening by the day, as both the old and new notes are deliberately withheld by the government.
“Innocent families, are going hungry, businesses are crumbling and tension keeps mounting, Buhari and his lackey, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, appear to be in isolation or living in total denial.
“By now, everyone is aware that Buhari only deceived the nation by faking a directive to the CBN to respect the judgment of the Supreme Court, knowing full well that he did not mean it to be carried out”, Suleiman remarked.
Recall that spokesman to the President, Garba Shehu, had, in a statement on Monday, said it was unfair to blame the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for the disobedience of the CBN, adding that the bank had “no reason not to comply with court orders on the excuse of waiting for directives from the President”.
The CBN had also, almost immediately, issued a statement, directing all Deposit Money Banks to accept and dispense the old notes to customers, in compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court.
CNG described both statements by the Presidency and the CBN as “clumsy, scanty, ambiguous statements through their spokespersons, as though the matter is not serious enough”.
The group further alleged that the President was using the CBN governor to rehash his 1984 currency review policy, which caused mass suffering and death of citizens.
It further observed that the insincerity of the President’s statement was confirmed by the fact that banks in the North had not been reimbursed with the old or new naira notes, leading them to ration the amount of money paid to customers.
CNG called on the National Assembly, to intervene and rescue the image of the judiciary and the CBN, which it observed had been scandalised by the President Buhari and Godwin Emefiele.
The Coalition further called on the state governors to meet with the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to fashion out a way to stop the nation from drifting into deeper crisis.
“We call on the National Assembly to move quickly to rescue the CBN, the image of the courts and the nation generally, from imminent decay and slip into decadence by checkmating the dictatorial tendencies unfolding in the nation.
“We also call on the patriotic state governors who initiated the legal process and the ungodly regime of monetary policies, to intensify efforts to save the nation, its financial institutions and judiciary. In this regard, we suggest they meet with the President-elect and fashion out a way out to halt the current national drift toward greater conflict,” CNG added.
It maintained: “We urge all Nigerians to remain vigilant and watch the direction our country is headed, and to rise and speak up against these unwarranted, unforgivable injustices.
“We call the attention of the international community to note that responsibility should ultimately lie in Buhari and Emefiele in the event of any rupture in the system, as a result of their deceptive, insincere handling of the issue of these murderous economic policies,” the group declared.
