The Centre for Reform and Advocacy has accused the All Progressives Congress APC governors of treason for countering President Muhammadu Buhari’s order on the new naira note.
A statement signed by the Centre’s legal adviser, Kalu Agu, said the provisions of the law gives the Central Bank of Nigeria the responsibility to undertake the redesign of legal tender and deadline for the use of old legal tender with the approval of the President.
It said with such powers, the governors do not have the rights to give contrary directives on the use of old naira notes when they do not have such powers either donated to them by the 1999 Constitution, Acts of the National Assembly or even a law from their states’ House of Assembly.
Buhari had said in a broadcast on Thursday that the old N500 and N1,000 notes had ceased to be legal tender while the old N200 should remains in circulation till April 10. But some APC governors asked residents of their stated to ignore the directive and continue to use the old notes.
According to the CSO, “the contrary directives issued by the governors that the old naira notes should continue to be a legal tender in their various states when the President had through the CBN issued a directive in that respect were treasonable, unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and highly inciting.”
“The contrary directives issued by the governors that the old naira notes should continue to be a legal tender in their various states when the President had through the CBN issued a directive in that respect are treasonable, unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and highly inciting.”
