President Buhari’s disregard for court orders legendary – Group laments
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has again accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s government of utterly disregarding court orders, describing the act as legendary.
The Rights group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Thursday, said the Buhari’s government appetite for flouting court orders has again been depicted by its blanket banning of old N500 and N1,000 notes despite an order of the Supreme Court to the contrary.
The group claimed that President Buhari had in a similar fashion disobeyed an Appeal Court ruling granting unconditional bail to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu in 2022.
The group said Buhari is laying a bad precedent by disobeying court orders which is crucial for the sustenance of democracy and its values.
HURIWA said Buhari should know enough that democracy is about the rule of law and not by fiat and decree as done by military Heads of State.
The group cautioned that the President should not rule Nigeria like a country under military rule.
It will be recalled that many protests and vandalisation of banks and ATM outlets rocked States like Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Delta, Oyo, Ogun and others in reaction to the hardship faced by the common man over the naira redesign policy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extended the deadline for the swap of old N200, N500, and N1,000 from January 31 to February 10 following complaints by many Nigerians but the Supreme Court ruled the Federal Government, the CBN and commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 22.
But the President, in a national broadcast on Thursday, ordered the apex bank to release old N200 notes into circulation to co-exist with new N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes for 60 days.
He said old N500 and N1,000 banknotes are no longer legal tender in Nigeria.
Onwubiko said: “The President’s knack for the disregard of law and order is legendary as displayed again on Thursday morning during his broadcast on the naira redesign policy. HURIWA rejects the President’s fiat and demand his compliance with the Supreme Court order directing that status quo be maintained on the matter till its hearing on February 22.
“The deaths and killings of protesters angry over the artificial scarcity of new naira notes by security agents is also condemnable. We, therefore, call for the arrest and prosecution of the trigger-happy soldiers and police over the extrajudicial execution. We also demand the prosecution of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele for complicity in the killings since he created the whole chaos in the first instance”.
