Femi Falana Reacts To CBN Decision To Flout Supreme Court Ruling On Naira Swap Policy

Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has slammed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to flout the order of the Supereme Court over the Naira Redesign Policy that is currently affecting Nigerians.

The legal luminary, who spoke on Channels TV 2023 Verdict on Monday, condemned the CBN for violating the Nigerian constitution, saying the supreme court order supercedes any other pronouncement and should be respected strictly to the letter.

Since last Wednesday the apex court ruled that the February 10 deadline for the naira swap should be suspended by the CBN, there has been series of reports across the country about rejections of old naira notes by banks and traders.

Some commerical banks allegedly told their customers that they have not received a directive from the CBN to collect the old notes. 

This was said to have created panic and  confusion in the banking sector and seriously affected people’s livelihood.

Speaking on the action of CBN towards the supreme court ruling, Femi Falana disclosed that Nigeria is a country where the rule of law operates and once the supreme court passes a judgement on a matter, it is expected that all and sundry would comply with the order.

“A statement was credited to the Central Bank that since it was not a party to the case, it’s not going to comply with the order. I thought that could only happen in a banana republic.

“I expected the Central Bank to have issued a statement following the order of the Supreme Court: ‘all actions are stale until the 15th of February.’”

According to him, the law will be invoked to deal with those who are deliberately flouting the orders of the court and sabotaging the rule of law in Nigeria.

“For me, an example has to be made this time around, so that nobody will feel that he’s above the law in our country,” Falana said.