New naira: Buhari wrongly advised, says Keyamo

The spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has said that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has good intentions for the naira redesign policy, but was wrongly advised.

This follows the President’s address on Thursday directing that only the old N200 naira notes be recirculated until April 10, 2023, to ease the pain felt by citizens as a result of the scarcity of the naira notes.

However, Keyamo, who was speaking Friday night on Channels Television’s political programme, ‘The 2023 Verdict’, said although the President acted honestly, he might have been advised wrongly.

He added that he would have advised the President to comply with the Supreme Court order, which was to recirculate all the old notes.

“My view is that the President acted honestly, without intention to slight the Supreme Court, but he may have acted on wrong advice. I did not give that advice, it’s not my responsibility. I do not know who gave that advice.

“I want to say this openly, because tomorrow, people would ask me where I stood at this time. So, I think the President did not, because in his speech, he acknowledged that there were certain matters in court. So, he thought he was playing safe by saying okay, before you decide these matters in court, may I just provide some middle ground, so that the country is burning, there are riots everywhere, so let me just try and provide some succour for people, whilst acknowledging the matters are in court.

“Now, if I were to advise him, I would have advised differently. (I would have advised him) to comply with the terms of the order of the Supreme Court. All the notes should circulate for now, all the notes. All the old notes should circulate side by side with the new notes for now, because that is the order of the Supreme Court.”

Keyamo also said that all authorities in Nigeria must obey the orders of the Supreme Court, stating that “anything to the contrary is a descent to anarchy, and I can tell you, the day we begin to disobey the order of the Supreme Court, that is an invitation to intervention in our democracy…”

(Punch)