By Boma Nwuke.
On Wednesday, February 8, 2023 a panel of 7 Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria unanimously stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, deadline for exchange of old naira notes.
Moments after the Apex court’s ruling on an exparte motion filed by three governors, Bello Mattawalle of Zamfara, Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, seeking to restrain the Federal Government and the CBN from banning the use of old naira notes from February 10, there were quick and mixed reactions across the country.
While many Nigerians who are watching and groaning see the development as salutory and a big relief, others dismissed it with a wave of the hand and castigated the Supreme Court for having the audacity to stop the February 10 deadline.
Those in the latter school of thought believe that the Supreme Court ruling would give politicians the financial window to buy votes from the electorates. The former, see the ruling as pro- masses, coming at a period Nigerians are having challenges with scarcity of the naira in banking halls.
The use of Automated Teller Machines Point of Sale (PoS) equipment and unsuccessful electronic transactions have all succeeded in dispensing pain instead of cash.
Indeed the timing of the naira redesign in my view was very wrong. Events between the first deadline on January 31 and just a few days to the February 10 deadline showed that the CBN was rather hasty in introducing new naira notes and fixing untimely deadlines to score cheap political points.
Before the three wise governors embarked on their mission to seek a solution to the nagging naira redesign policy, there was, and still is, the recurring fuel scarcity across the country. Nigerians spend man hours queuing at filling stations to get fuel. Transport fares have been hiked, making movement very difficult. The same is true of the spiraling cost of food.
The fuel situation coupled with the scarcity of the Naira fuelled riots in some parts of the country. The President was not even spared. Mobs in Katsina, his home State and Kano threw stones at the president and his entourage.
The emerging scenarios around banks and on the streets makes me recall familiar scenes in the build up to the June 12 1993 presidential election when obstacles were deliberately place on the path of Chief Moshood Abiola.
MKO defied all odds set up against him to emerge as the preferred presidential candidate of many families across ethnic, religious and geographical boundaries.
In that election, Bashir Tofa of the NRC was touted by so-called kingmakers as the one to win that election. But Abiola whose generosity and campaign messages of hope agreed with the expectations of the masses reportedly led his rival, Tofa by a wide margin before the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election.
That annulment ignited protests that lingered for a long time. It also led to the incarceration and death of the presumed winner of the election, MKO Abiola. His wife Kudirat was also not spared as she was shot dead while several persons who were against the injustice meted to Abiola were hunted and hounded.
In a bid to give credence to their wicked plot, the military government, known for playing the ostrich, quickly recruited politicians with loose morals to sell the idea of an interim administration to the public. Those hirelings didn’t care about the present then, and not certainly about the future of their country and the place of democracy, To them, all was fair as long as the military junta oiled their palms.
But as the saying goes” What a man sows he reaps” Truly , those who sold their conscience for a bowl of porridge paid dearly for their actions after the exit of military.
Now, 30 years later, the signs and realities of that era are gradually being seen and also felt by the Nigerian people since after the party primaries of the ruling party which held between May and June 2023. In the build up to the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress APC, several persons were said to have expressed interest to contest for the office of president.
The aspirants bought forms at the cost of N100 million, per person in a country where more than 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. Those who bought the forms included Ministers, Governors, Vice President, Senators and the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.
However, not all who bought the forms participated in the primary as some were challenged by a provision of the Electoral Act 2023 as amended which requires a public official to resign before vying for a political office. The CBN governor who was challenged by the Act, approached the court amid calls for his resignation but decided at the last minute to keep his job.
In other climes where the law takes precedence and conscience and morals count, the governor of the apex bank would have either resigned or been fired. But with the lackadaisical attitude of the current administration, the CBN governor who desecrated his office by indicating interest in partisan politics was allowed to stay. As a result he has become a thin god, dishing out monetary policies that daily cause Nigerians excruciating pain.
Again, some of those people used as decoys to sponsor the purchase forms for Emefiele who were paraded as farmers or some businessmen are alleged to be paupers whose source of daily income depend on trifling overtures of desperate public office holders.
Not yet done with that show of infamy, the vultures who inspired the June 12 debacle are gathering again, either to secure another annulment or extend the influence of a civilian cabal.
But what they do not know is that the June 12, and the February 25, 2023 elections are not the same. The intriguing political developments may appear similar but the dates and awareness of the populace are definitely not something anyone can take for granted.
On October 26, 2022 the CBN introduced three redesigned Naira notes to the financial system. The bank further announced that the new notes – N200, N500 and N1000 – which would have beenl been made available for use on December 15 would cease to be legal tender by January 31, 2023.
By December 31, Nigerians who took their money to the banks for the money swap were unable to access the new or old notes. Their anger and frustration in the land was terrific, with pleas made for the extension of the policy. President Muhammadu Buhari graciously approved an extension by 10 days.
Shortly after the extension, the hardship to access the old and new currencies tripled. The fear of the unknown has since become the order nationwide.
For the people in the hinterland, it was disaster looming. For the churches, it was a sign of end times. For the non partisan elite, it was simply madness. For the ruling APC, it was a policy whose sudden death should be applauded.
For the NNPP, the naira swap was incongruous with what happens in other countries where the policy was introduced and so, should be discontinued.
For the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, it was the best legacy of the Buhari administration and it held that those who were opposing the money swap deadline do not mean well for the country. For the Labour Party, the CBN should be commended not condemned, after all India announced its currency swap and concluded same in only four days.
The remarks of the candidates comparatively revealed their passion either for the welfare of the suffering masses, or the level of insensitivity that bellies their perception of the people. Those remarks gave vent to the feeling that there may be something ominously waiting in the wings for the people if certain characters masquerading as leaders who do not care about the masses were to get to power through any means possible.
The prospect of what is likely to happen calls for the serious interrogation of the motives of some of those who are asking for power on the part of the masses even as there are only a couple of weeks before the presidential election.
