Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a human rights lawyer, has denounced President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly defying a Supreme Court decision.
According to news reports, the Supreme Court has ruled both the old and new naira notes be used concurrently until it rules on a matter brought before it by Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, and other states.
Nevertheless, in a nationwide broadcast, President Buhari defied the Supreme Court’s interim decision directing the Central Bank of Nigeria to only disburse the old 200 naira notes.
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In a statement issued on Friday, Ozekhome, who believed the president was wrong to ignore the order, termed it as a ‘dicta, more in the form of a military Edict’.
He said, “Buhari, in his broadcast on Thursday, February 16, 2023, unilaterally varied the apex court’s extant order of maintenance of status quo, by directing the CBN Governor to the effect that ‘the old N200 banknotes be released back into circulation…to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500 and N1000 bank notes for 60 days…’
“The President then issued a dicta, more in the form of a military Decree, that, ‘in line with section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007, all existing old N1000 and N500 notes remain redeemable at the CBN and designated prints’.
“This order is a clear violation of and disobedience to the existing order of the apex court which had already maintained the status quo ante bellum of all parties involved in the Naira re-design dispute.
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“The Supreme Court had on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, after the first interim order, adjourned the suit originally filed by the Attorneys-General of Kano, Kogi and Zamfara states (other interested parties were later joined) to February 22, to enable it hear the entire matter holistically.”
Buhari, according to Ozekhome, has demonstrated the characteristics of an Emperor and Overlord via his disobedience.
He said, “Every Nigerian had expected that the Federal Government would respect this apex court’s position. But President Buhari demurred. He made himself Supreme Leader; an Emperor; Potentate, Mikado and Overlord.”
He claimed that Buhari’s address to the country effectively overruled the Supreme Court of the Nation in a way that only a military despot could consider.
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The lawyer added that, “Buhari’s action is a reminder of the apocryphal saying of autocratic and despotic Emperor Louis XIV, who, on 13th April, 1655, stood in front of Parliament and imperiously declared, ‘L’Etat C’est Moi (I am the State)”. This was to underline the fact that he and he alone, had absolute power over his Nation.’”
Ozekhome said Buhari’s decision might lead to turmoil, anarchy, and national instability, and that it was a direct challenge to the Supreme Court’s authority.
According to him, the order is also an assaukt on the “head of the entire Judiciary, the 3rd arm of government under the idea of separation of powers, most ably promoted in 1748 by Baron de Montesque, a renowned French Philosopher.
“To have whimsically and capriciously varied the order of the Supreme Court was to pick and choose what order to obey or disobey. This breaches the supremacy of the 1999 Constitution provided for in section 1(1) thereof. It also frontally assaults the provisions of section 287(1) of the Constitution which provides that ‘the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court.’”
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He advised the Supreme Court not to allow this slide, since the President in his speech alluded that the matter was before the apex court.
Ozekhome said, “This is one instance where the apex court should bare its teeth and bite. This is more so because President Buhari had himself acknowledged in his speech, the pendency of the matter before the Supreme Court. Surely, no one is above the law; not even President Buhari himself.”
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