An investigative medium, PREMIUM TIMES has called for the arrest and prosecution of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele over the lingering Naira crisis.
In an editorial titled: CBN, the rule of law and Nigerian democracy, the newspaper faulted the apex bank for failing to adhere to the ruling of the Supreme Court on the old Naira notes.
On 3 March, the Supreme Court ordered that the old N200, N500, N1,000 notes remain in circulation till 31 December. The apex court also nullified the Federal Government’s Naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront to the 1999 Constitution.
The Supreme Court delivered judgment in the suit brought against the Federal Government on the Naira redesign policy by 16 states, which instituted the suit to challenge the legality or otherwise of the introduction of the policy.
But neither President Buhari nor the CBN had issued a statement to indicate compliance with the ruling with traders continue to reject the notes causing pain and anguish to the populace.
PREMIUM TIMES noted that the cash withdrawal limit imposed by the CBN is an infringement on the rights of the people
The editorial also questioned why the Federal Government and the CBN were yet to make official move to enforce the order of the Supreme Court.
According to the editorial, “PREMIUM TIMES has made several calls for Mr Emefiele to be relieved of his office. These calls were premised on growing doubt as to his fitness for office. If we took the CBN’s main price stability remit as our point of departure, Mr Emefiele’s incompetence is incontrovertible.
“This is as much about the outcomes of his policy, and as the Supreme Court’s ruling points to, as it is about the thoughtlessness that goes into his policy design.
“However, rule breaking is why we would want Mr Emefiele to be arrested and tried. We cannot build a democracy on the back of impunity and illegality. But there is also the charge of economic sabotage. If the first is criminal. The second is treasonous”.
Source: The Nation
