The supreme court ruling for halting the ban on the old N200, N500 and N1000 to remain legal tender beyond the February 10 deadline until the case is fully disposed of has been commended by the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
This is even as he also hailed the Governors of the 36 states for standing on the side of the Nigerian people over the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new Naira and cashless policies that have subjected the masses to pain.
Recall that the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning in a suit brought before it by the governments of Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna States gave an interim injunction against the CBN and the federal government.
In a statement issued by the Director, Media and Publicity, APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu had called on the CBN to ensure that the Supreme Court ruling was effectively executed by taking all necessary steps to ensure sufficient availability of Naira notes whether old or new and properly sensitising the public on the ruling and the consequent validity of old Naira.
According to the former governor, the Supreme Court acted well on behalf of the hapless Nigerians who have been made to bear the brunt of the Naira redesign policy that has been poorly implemented
Tinubu who hailed the APC governors on their right step also added that the governors have saved the country from needless political and economic crises and miseries which have clearly become the unintended consequences of the monetary policy of the apex bank.
In his words: “I want to salute the courage of our Governors and most especially the Progressives Governors in APC who acted to save our country from avoidable and dangerous political crises and social unrest which the Central Bank policy on new Naira notes has brought on our country.
“Our country was dangerously careering toward anarchy and political and economic shutdown. But with the Supreme Court interim ruling, our country has been pulled back from the precipice. We thank our Supreme Court Justices for ruling wisely on the side of the people who have been subjected to undue agony and pains since this policy was announced.
“Those countries give a long time, at least 12 months to effect the currency change. They do not engage in a CBN-like Fire Brigade approach.
“We have seen how a good policy can be poorly implemented to cause unintended problems for the people who should be the beneficiaries. While lessons have been learnt, we must now move on as a country and people with a Renewed Hope for a better tomorrow.”
Tinubu went ahead to add that the sole aim of his decision to run for the position of president of the country was to make life better and more abundant for the people, saying this was the ideal he would remain eternally committed to.
Also stressing that the federal government and relevant stakeholders could now sit down and work out a better framework, and as well learn how to proceed with the new naira policy without causing any social and economic disruption since many countries have been through this without social inconveniences.
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