The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has argued that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari declaring the N500 and N1,000 notes as illegal tenders was not a direct affront to Supreme Court that had temporarily halted the move to ban the old currencies by February 10, 2023.
Fashola’s position contradicts the comment by Festus Keyamo, the junior minister for Labour, who posited that the action of the president amounts to contempt of court.
Keyamo, who is spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, had in an interview on Channels Television, said the president was wrongly advised to make the pronouncement in a nationwide broadcast.
According to Keyamo, although Buhari had good intentions for the naira redesign policy, he was wrongly advised. He had also said he would have advised the president to comply with the Supreme Court order, which was to recirculate all the old notes until they decide on the matter.
“My view is that the president acted honestly, without intention to slight the Supreme Court, but he may have acted on wrong advice. I did not give that advice, it’s not my responsibility. I do not know who gave that advice.
However, speaking recently on Television Continental, the former Lagos State governor maintained that President Buhari only took the step to help ameliorate the pains of Nigerians who were becoming the unintended victims of the naira redesign policy.
“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,” Fashola 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 court decision when you are in pain, and people are in pain?
