From left: Badru, El-Rufai and Ganduje.

A Civil Society Organisation; Centre for Reform & Public Advocacy has accused some state governors under the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, particularly Mallam Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and their Jigawa State counterpart, Badaru Abubakar, among others of treason over their broadcasts directing residents of the states to continue with the use of the old 500 and 1,000 naira notes, which had ceased to be legal tenders.

The directives by these governors, according to the group, run contrary to an earlier directive by President Muhammadu Buhari in a nationwide broad cast Thursday last week, informing the citizens that the old 500 and 1,000 naira notes had ceased to be legal tenders in line with an extended deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN for the circulation of the old notes, which elapsed February 10, 2023.

The President had also directed the CBN to reissue the old 200 naira note to circulate with the new 500 and 1,000 for a period of 60 days up to April 10, 2023 in order to curb the cash crunch occasioned by the new policy.

In a statement signed by its Legal Adviser, Kalu Kalu Agu Esq, the group noted that the actions of the governors in issuing counter directives to that of the President was a pure case of treason, arguing that such counter-directives could trigger violence and unrest not only against the President but also against the entire Nigerian state.

According to the group: “The contrary directives issued by the APC governors that the old naira notes should continue to be a legal tender in their various states when the President had through the CBN issued a directive in that respect is treasonable.

“The contrary directives from the APC governors are not only unconstitutional, unlawful, and illegal but also highly inciting, thereby aiding the populace to wedge war against the Federation. The APC governors cannot hide under the Immunity Clause as enshrined under section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to be engaging in treasonable activities against the Sovereignty of this nation.

“Consequently, the APC governors should know that times do not run out against any crime committed against the Federation. As a Civil Society Organisation, we respectfully call on the security agencies in the country and all international organisations including foreign embassies to take notice of all the treasonable activities of the APC governors instigating the citizens of this country through their unguided and inciting speeches to take up arms against the Federation.

“They should be held responsible for all the crises that broke out as a result of their inciting pronouncements against the policy of naira design, which has occasioned wanton destruction of lives and property across the country.

“We also call on all the security agencies to live up to their primary duty of ensuring that lives and property are safeguarded and ensure that these APC governor do not derail this democratic process of transiting power to another democratically elected persons.

Citing paragraphs six and 15 of Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, the country’s grundnorm, which contain items on the Exclusive list, which the President, not the State Governors, has the exclusive powers to execute items on the list.

According to the group, items on paragraph six of the Exclusive list are banks, banking bills of exchange, and promissory notes, while items on paragraph 15 of the list include currency, coinage and legal tender, arguing that judging from provisions of the Constitution, it is incumbent up on the President to execute all other laws enacted by the National Assembly and in this case, the CBN Act.

It also cited section 17 of the CBN Act, which provides that “The Bank (CBN) shall have the sole right of issuing currency notes and coins throughout Nigeria and neither the Federal Government nor any State Government, Local Government, other person or authority shall issue currency notes, bank notes or coins or any documents or token payable to bearer on demand being document or token which are likely to pass as legal tender.”

The statement also reads in part: “As a Civil Society Organisation, we sincerely align ourselves with the position of Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu and others when they asserted that the governors of the All Progressives Congress APC are committing treason against Nigeria’s sovereignty. Nigeria, being a sovereign nation, has the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic (as amended) as its grundnorm, specifying in clear and unambiguous terms how Nigeria should be governed.

“The 1999 Constitution assigns different roles to the three tiers of government, namely the Federal Government, State Government, and the Local Government. By the express provision of section four (2) of the 1999 Constitution, the National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive list set out in part one of the second schedule to the Constitution, while section five(1)(a-b) of the Constitution donates the Executive Powers to the President and the President shall exercise the laws made by the National Assembly and shall extend his powers to the execution and maintenance of the Constitution, all laws made by the National Assembly and to all matters with which the National Assembly has power to make laws.

“To make the powers of the President clearer, section 130(1) of the Constitution provides thus: “There shall be for the Federation a President” and Section 130(2) provides that the President shall be the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation.

” Section 19(1)(b) of the CBN Act provides that the currency notes and coins issued by the Bank shall be of such forms and designs and bear such devices as shall be approved by the President on the recommendation of the Board.

“Section 20(1) of the CBN Act provides that the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be the legal tender in Nigeria at their face value for payment of any amount” while subsection three of section 20 of the Act provides “… the Bank shall have power, if so directed by the President and after giving reasonable notice in that behalf, to call in any of its notes or coins on payment of the face value thereof and any note or coin with respect to which a notice has been given under this subsection shall, on the expiration of the notice, cease to be the legal tender, but subject to section 22 of this Act, shall be redeemed by the Bank upon demand.”

The group argued that from the above provisions of the CBN Act, it is abundantly clear without any equivocation that the apex has the responsibility and power to issue a legal tender for Nigeria and to redesign any denomination of the legal tender, fixing of deadline for cessation of validity of any legal tender under the directive of the President pursuant to sections 19(1b) and 20(3) of the CBN Act.

Given the above provisions of the laws, the group wondered whether the CBN can on its own volition call for legal tender redesign and deadline for the use of old legal tender without the approval of the President, to which it answered in the negative.

It also queried why and how will the APC Governors would be issuing contrary directives on the use of old naira notes when they do not have such powers either donated to them by the 1999 Constitution, the Acts of the National Assembly or even a law from their States Houses of Assembly.