Rita Odafe
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday regarding the controversial cashless policy of the federal government. Salihu Moh. Lukman, National Vice Chairman of the Northwest region of the party, issued a statement on Friday, March 3 in Abuja to make this demand.
The Supreme Court invalidated the CBN policy on the grounds that it was implemented without due consultation and was not in line with constitutional provisions. As a result, the court ruled that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes should co-exist with the new ones until December 31.
Lukman expressed his disappointment with the sudden implementation of the cash swap policy and tight deadline, which he said had caused untold hardship to Nigerians. He praised the Supreme Court Justices led by Justice Akomaye for their judicial intervention. He also stated that if the cashless policy was supposedly designed to conform with legal provisions of the Nigerian Federation, then both Emefiele and Malami should accept responsibility for their actions and resign from their offices.
Lukman commended APC leaders from North-West for their courage and initiative to challenge the action of the Federal Government in the Supreme Court. He also noted that Nigerians had resisted attempts by subversive politicians to use such crude methods to provoke citizens into voting against APC during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Finally, Lukman expressed confidence that Nigerians would reaffirm their faith in APC during the Governorship and States’ Houses of Assembly election on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
