Naira Swap: Adamu meets Malami, 3 APC Govs ahead S'Court's hearing - NEWS FRONTIER DAILY

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Monday, February 20, 2023

Naira Swap: Adamu meets Malami, 3 APC Govs ahead S'Court's hearing





Ahead of Wednesday's hearing by the Supreme Court into the case between the Federal Government and three Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC regarding the Naira swap policy, APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu on Monday met with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.


The barely an hour meeting which held at the APC National Secretariat on Monday also had in attendance the plaintiffs, Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state; Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State.


The three Governors on behalf of their states had in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3, by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Mustapha SAN, prayed the apex court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN naira redesign policy.


A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government, CBN and commercial banks from implementing the February 10 deadline for the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to stop being a legal tender.


The court further held that the Federal Government, CBN and commercial banks must not go ahead with the February 10 deadline pending the determination of a motion on notice in respect of the issue on February 15.


However, on February 15, several other states applied to join the suit, a development which forced the apex court to fix hearing for Wednesday, February 22.


On Sunday, APC asked the Federal Government and the CBN to comply with the interim order of the Supreme Court which asked parties to maintain the status quo with regards to the Naira redesign policy of the apex bank.


This was the outcome of a meeting between state governors of the party, the National Working Committee NWC and APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, which held Sunday in Abuja.


The party also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene and halt the current sufferings of the people.


Adamu meets Malami, Govs


However, on Monday, Malami and the three Governors were at the secretariat where they were joined with the Chairman, Progressive Governors' Forum PGF and Governor of Kebbi state, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.


An hour after they went into the meeting, all the parties came out without addressing the media. However, when pressed further, Adamu simply said; "There is no issue. We are all on the same page".


There were speculations within the secretariat that the party leader was seeking to get the parties to resolve the issue outsise the court.


Our reputation at stake - Adamu


At a separate meeting with a delegation from the Commonwealth Observer mission, Adamu conceded that the Naira redesign policy was biting hard on Nigerians but expressed optimism that measures were being taken to address the challenges of implementation.


He said the ruling party is concerned about delivering a free, fair and credible election, noting that its reputation was at stake.


He said; "As the ruling party, we are very concerned, our reputation, our image is on the line and so we are working to do the best possible in the circumstances we found ourselves today to see that we have a successful outing and that nobody's liberty is infringed upon.


"We are working to win and we are happy that the youths are sufficiently mobilised and would come out in millions go vote. Our hope is that they will be voting us.


"There are 18 registered political parties and they have the same rights to contest this election. We may beat our chest as the ruling party but that is not to say the other parties at not contesting and we are not underestimating the strength of any party because to do so will be at the expense of the victory we are looking for.


"On foreign intervention, I don't want to preempt anything but since we are in a bvlovak village, there are bound to be interests here and there. We do hope that since we have grund norms, rules of engagement in politics, the international community also has rules do engagement and our hope and wish is that they will live by that.


"Yes, we are concerned. We are going cashless, we are redesigning and it has coincided with the elections and there have been some hiccups with the implementation of this programme which has really caused a lot of concern down the ladder. We cannot pretend that it is not biting but I think measures are being taken to ameliorate the pains.



Commonwealth delegation:


The team led by Ambassador Amina Mohammed thanked the Adamu for receiving them warmly.


She said; "We are assured with what you have said that the intention is to continuously improve the environment that the elections are held in and that also to make sure that the recommendations that we made in 2019 when our last observer team was here are taken into consideration and that in preparation, you would always look at these recommendations".

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