Following the ruling of the Supreme Court on the implementation of a monetary policy of the federal government, the Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami for misadvised President Mohammadu Buhari.
Akeredolu said the duo misadvised President Buhari to assume powers of an “Emperor answerable only to himself and no other authorities as enshrined in the law.”
In a statement he issued and made available to journalists in Akure, the Ondo state capital, Akeredolu noted that the “Governor of the CBN acted most irresponsibly when he claimed to be exercising powers, which the CBN Act does not invest in his office.”
According to him, “the CBN governor was quoted as saying that he was fighting corruption, money laundering, and vote-buying. He acted, ultra vires, goaded by his political permutations.”
He said, “Nigerians have been punished unduly. As the Supreme Court has pronounced, the law must be allowed to rule. There are statutory functions allotted to bodies in the 1999 Constitution, as amended.”
Akeredolu said, ”It is deplorable to witness small businesses collapse with unbelievable rapidity. We have been regaled with tales of the dehumanization of ordinary Nigerians who have been forced to strip themselves naked in banking halls weeping to be given their monies kept with the banks. Some have lost their lives, needlessly, for being unable to access their deposits in the banks upon demand.”
His words:” The Government and the people of Ondo State received the news of the ruling of the Supreme Court on the punitive implementation of a monetary policy, hurriedly packaged to achieve a pernicious end by Mr. Godwin Emefiele, with great relief.
The position of the apex Court is in tandem with our press releases on the subject matter. We salute the industry and courage of the Justices of the Supreme Court for the well-considered ruling.
‘There are statutory functions allotted to bodies in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. These bodies must be allowed to exercise those functions. Anyone purporting to act in contravention of the extant laws does so, either ignorantly or mischievously. The letters of the law are simple and understandable if the people in authority embrace less mischief.
“We enjoin the Federal Government to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court immediately as there is no other alternative open to it.
“There is no gain in asserting the obvious. The whole policy may have been well conceived. Its implementation has been politically driven. The CBN Governor is a partisan of injustice and oppression. Most Governments, perhaps except a negligible few motivated by the possibility of deriving unexpressed political advantages, cannot meet simple obligations to their citizens. It is most unfortunate.
“As we enjoin the officials of the Federal Government who may be directly involved in putting into effect the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court ruling to do so immediately, the Ondo State Government will not hesitate to proceed against persons and institutions whose activities impede its ability to discharge statutory obligations to the people.
“There is no justification for the pains to which our people have been subjected for obvious political reasons.”