Fashola Tackles Keyamo, Says Buhari’s Action Is Not A Disparagement Of S’Court

By Biodun Busari

Public Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola disagreed with his counterpart, State, Labor and Employment Minister Festus Keyamo over his recent comment criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that the old N200 be recirculated to on April 10, 2023, while the old N500 and N1,000 cease to be legal tender.

Fashola, who is also the Chief Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), argued over the weekend that the president’s directive was not a direct affront to the Supreme Court which had momentarily halted the move to ban ancient coins by February 10, 2023. .

The former Lagos state governor, speaking on TVC on Sunday, maintained that the president only took the step to help ease the hardships of Nigerians who were bearing the brunt of politics.

Keyamo, who is a spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, said in an interview on Channels Television that the president was wrongly advised to make the remarks on a national broadcast.

According to Keyamo, although Buhari had good intentions for the naira redesign policy, he was wrongly advised.

The APP PCC spokesman also said that he would have advised the president to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, which was to recirculate all old banknotes until they decide on the matter.

“My view is that the president acted honestly, with no intent to disparage the Supreme Court, but may have acted on the wrong advice. I did not give that advice, it is not my responsibility. I don’t know who gave that advice.

“Now, if I had to advise you, I would have advised you differently. He would have advised her to comply with the terms of the Supreme Court order. All the notes must circulate for now, all the notes. All the old banknotes should circulate together with the new banknotes for now, because that is the order of the Supreme Court,” Keyamo said.

However, Fashola, reacting to Keyamo’s statement, said Buhari’s recent national broadcast on the ongoing naira redesign policy was not contempt of the Supreme Court.

He stated that although the naira exchange policy needed to be reviewed, the decision was made by the president because he had seen the suffering faced by many Nigerians and not to upset the high court.

Fashola explained: “Let me just say that in a democracy where there is the right to speak freely, there is likely to be a divergence of viewpoints, as you have. But I think that the principle of respecting and waiting for the result of a judicial decision has sometimes been stretched, if I may use that word.

“There is also a lot of jurisprudence and scholarship on the limits of contempt in actions done and things said. If I close the door on your finger, and you went to court to say that the court should instruct me to remove or open the door, am I saying we wait for the outcome of the court’s decision when you are in pain and people are concerned? pain?

“The question to ask is if I try to open that door, would you, the person suffering, say that I was in contempt or would you be happy to ask me to open the door and then come back to court and state the matter we have?” resolved?

“And that’s another angle to look at this because I think any interventions that the president tried to make were interventions in response to very palpable pain and I think he said a lot in his speech about the unintended consequences of the policy.

“The question to ask is if I try to open that door, would you, the person suffering, say that I was in contempt or would you be happy to ask me to open the door and then come back to court and state the matter we have?” resolved?

“And that’s another angle to look at this because I think any interventions that the president tried to make were interventions in response to very palpable pain and I think he said a lot in his speech about the unintended consequences of the policy.”