A constitutional and human rights lawyer, Carol Ajie Esq. has berated the counsel to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State over the recent Supreme Court ruling on Naira redesign and the Governor’s grandstanding against President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.
Barrister Ajie made the remarks in a memo she made available to News Band on Sunday, wherein she sought the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to invoke the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) rules against El-Rufai’s lawyers.
It could be recalled that the apex court had ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to continue issuing and accepting the old Naira notes as a legal tender.
The ruling followed a suit filed by the Kaduna State Governor and two others asking the court to compel the Central Bank to continue parallel usage of both the old and new currencies which judgement went in their favour.
President Buhari, however, in a nationwide broadcast, directed CBN to issue and accept only old two hundred Naira notes but maintain its position on the old five hundred and one thousand Naira notes respectively.
To the shock of the country, Governor El-Rufai gave a statewide broadcast, asking the residents to keep using the old and new currencies freely and respectively and ignore Buhari’s directive.
In the memo entitled “El-Rufai’s lawyers and LPDC rules”, Ajie urged NBA to commence disciplinary proceedings against the lawyers to Governor El-Rufai.
She pointed to the CBN Act which specifically states that CBN is a body corporate and independent.
She noted that it may have prompted El-Rufai & Co to deliberately omit CBN and or CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, from the list of parties in the suit.
She further stressed that CBN is statutorily empowered to issue legal tender and does not require State Governors to interfere with the primary function or jointly act with CBN in discharging it’s duties.
Ajie stated:
“The Nigerian Bar Association may be requested at some point, sooner or later to consider invocation of LPDC clause permitting the Association to commence disciplinary proceedings against the lawyers to Governor El-Rufai and others for two main reasons, viz:
1) CBN Act specifically states that CBN is a body corporate and independent. Why did El Rufai & Co deliberately omit CBN and or Mr Emefiele from the list of parties in the suit at the apex court yet expect CBN and or Emefiele bound by the outcome one way or the other.
2) CBN is the statutory authority empowered to issue legal tender and the Act did not require State Governors to interfere with the primary function or jointly act with CBN in respect thereof. Please See Section 1(1),(2)&(3) of CBN Act.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court is expected to pass judgement on the matter on February 23, just two days before the general election.
At its last sitting, the court failed to deliver the highly-awaited judgement which, it is believed, will grossly affect the outcome of the election.
