An Akure based legal practitioner, Femi Emmanuel Emodamori, has picked holes in the ruling of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria from extending the deadline for exchange of old naira notes for new ones beyond Friday, February 10, 2023.
In a statement, Emodamori described the order as illegal and satanic.
Read Press Statement below:
THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND SATANIC ORDER OF HON. JUSTICE ENENCHE’S ON THE NEW CURRENCY, AND THE DANGER IT PORTENDS FOR THE NATION.
I received with shock and indignation the news of the purported Order granted by Justice Eleojo Enenche of the Federal Capital Territory High Court restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a host of other commercial banks from extending the February 10, 2023 deadline for the accepting the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender.
Without mincing words, I submit that the Order is illegal, unconstitutional, obnoxious, irresponsible, capable of bringing the judiciary into a monumental public disrepute, and clearly constitutes a recipe for social instability.
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, just like State High Courts, lacks the jurisdiction to grant such Order, based on the clear provision of Section 251(1) (d) and (r) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which confers such power exclusively on the Federal High Court. The Section categorically states that:
“251 (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Constitution and in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly, the Federal High Court shall have and exercise jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other court in civil causes and matters-
(d) connected with or pertaining to banking, banks, other financial institutions, including any action between one bank and another, any action by or against the Central Bank of Nigeria arising from banking, foreign exchange, coinage, legal tender, bills of exchange, letters of credit, promissory notes and other fiscal measures.”
(r) any action or proceeding for a declaration or injunction affecting the validity of any executive or administrative action or decision by the Federal government or any of its agencies.”
In BABA-PANYA V. PRESIDENT, F.R.N (2018) 15 NWLR (PT 1643) 395 AT 424, PARAS C-E, the Court of Appeal restated that “By virtue of section 299 of the Constitution of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory is in law a State. In other words the Federal Capital Territory should be treated as one of the States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria…”
Justice Eleojo Enenche is a Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, and not a Judge of the Federal High Court. Therefore, his lordship has no power or jurisdiction to grant that purported Order, and knows or ought to know this elementary provision of the Constitution. Otherwise, his lordship, with due respect, has no business being on the Bench. That leaves me with the unavoidable conclusion that the unconstitutional Order was a deliberate act of judicial rascality.
I am seriously disturbed about a few things in this regard:
Firstly, this illegal and obnoxious Order was procured from Hon. Justice Eleojo Enenche by some political parties. What is the supposed legal interest or locus standi of a political party (that is supposed to act in general interest of the people) in procuring such Order from a Court (that ordinarily ought to be the last hope of the common man) to ensure the enforcement or continuation of an anti-people policy that is inflicting excruciating pains on Nigerians, as evident in the general despondency and disenchantment with the new Naira policy all over our country?
Secondly, the name ‘Eneche’. I have developed personal love for that name over the years because of my religious affiliation with some prominent members of the Enenches. But the truth must be told: the name ‘Enenche’, whether on the pulpit or in and out of military uniform, has in recent times been unarguably associated with the promotion of a particular presidential candidate in the forthcoming general election. Incidentally, the candidate, for whatever reasons known to him, has also come out to publicly support the new Naira policy that has now turned our banks and ATMs to refugee camps for the ‘financially displaced people’ trying to access their own legitimate money in order to meet their basic survival needs. That makes it difficult for me to rebut the argument that Hon. Justice Enenche’s illegal Order was politically motivated.
Thirdly, Hon. Justice Enenche’s Order is a recipe for serious social-economic and political brouhaha that would spare no one and do no good, unless there is an urgent intervention. The people cannot spend their hard-earned old currency to meet basic daily survival needs. They also cannot access the new notes for which they have been told to swap their old ones, have now been restricted to withdrawing only N20,000 of their own money (whether old or new notes) from the banks. Clearly, they are being pushed to the wall. We must act fast to avert the impending disaster being deliberately stirred up by the forces of evil in the land.
On the above premise, I regard Justice Enenche’s Order as not only illegal but insensitive and satanic. I hope it is not a rehearsal of the infamous order of Hon. Justice Dahiru Saleh that was procured by a self-styled Association of Better Nigeria led by Aurther Nzeribe, which provided a subterfuge for the military to annul the June 12, 1993 election and truncate the Third Republic.
I am therefore calling on the National Judicial Council to immediately investigate and take appropriate disciplinary measures against Justice Enenche for issuing the unconstitutional, ridiculous and irresponsible ex parte Order.
In the same vein, I call on Mr. President to shed off his sluggish approach to this serious national issue with enormous security implication(s), by either removing Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, for this draconian implementation of the currency policy, or at least directing him to extend the deadline until the CBN ensures that Nigerians can conveniently access the new notes up to the N500,000 daily withdrawal limit for individuals and N10,000,000 for corporate bodies allowed under Section 2 (1) of the Money Laundering Act, as against the illegal withdrawal limit of N20,000 (which is not even accessible) being foisted on us by the CBN Governor with absolutely no legal backing.
Let me end this piece by stating what I have repeated too many times in my public discourse. I am not a politician; I have never contested any election, and will never contest any. I have never taken any political appointment, and would never take any. I have never joined any political party, and will never join any. I have no ill-gotten wealth or sources of wealth that could in any way be threatened by any government policy.
I publish my daily and monthly income online on the 1st day of January every year, and I have been doing this for the past seven years. None of those driving this satanic policy can boast of this personal record of transparency.
Do not let them deceive you that they are fighting corruption; they are not. They are some of the most corrupt people in this country. Very soon, we shall open their books using the instrumentality of the law. I strongly believe that this life-suffocating currency policy is a ploy to instigate mass unrest and ultimately scuttle our democracy by some forces of darkness masquerading as angels of light.
Nigerian must resist the temptation to embark on any mass uprising that would destroy our country, although the right to peaceful expression and protest is a fundamental human right. We would rather embark on lawful, legitimate and targeted interventions to kill their evil plans before they ‘kill’ Nigeria.
Femi Emmanuel Emodamori
(Legal Practitioner, Akure)
7th February, 2023