A Civil Society Organization, Journalists for Open Government & Inclusion (JOGI) has said that the refusal of the federal government of Nigeria to obey the recent Supreme Court ruling on the new naira note swap exposes the depth of corruption in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“In case Mr President did not know, the worst form of corruption is the disobedience to court orders,” Comrade YAQOUB POPOOLA, the executive director of JOGI, said in a terse press statement release to the media.
“Again, any government that initiates a policy without a proper implementation plan and strategy also indulges in corruption.
JOGI’s statement called on the the President Buhari “to act as a true statesman and obey the Supreme Court verdict on Currency Swap Policy.”
The group cautioned that the growing bitterness in the land due to the currency scarcity could snowball into civil unrest “unless the government acts responsibly.”
Comrade Popoola said, “it was quite unfortunate that a government that is still battling with poverty and insecurity could allow the nation slide into chaos due to needless, irresponsible, and Ill-conceived policy.”
JOGI advised the President to direct the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN) to “respect the Supreme Court verdict and allow the old and new currency to float side by side in the open market.”
“With the untidy manner in which President Buhari is handling the delicate matter, it is obvious now that Buhari is pursuing a hidden agenda at the detriment of the nation’s wellbeing.
“As we speak, most Banks in the country have been shut down due to fear of being attacked by angry residents, and President Buhari still finds it convenient to dish out insane directives. ”
JOGI further warned that Buhari’s government might end up like the inglorious regime of former troops President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, which annulled the most accessible and fairest Presidential poll in the history of Nigeria.
“It is also clear that Buhari and his voodoo economic advisers are working in cahoots with anti-democratic elements in the country to truncate the Presidential poll.
“How on earth would a government deny the people access to their legitimate earnings and expect them not to be vulnerable to vote- trading during elections?
“When you deliberately impoverished the people ,you are making them vulnerable to all forms of abuse .This is pure madness!
“Today, the only thing Nigerians and the world remember about the eight-year regime of IBB is the annulment of the June 12, 1993, General Election.
“With the untidy manner the CBN is going about implementing its naive policy, the level of vote-trading in the General Election would be unimaginable.
Since the wake of this crazy policy, many lives have been lost while many public infrastructures, including Commercial Banks, have also been destroyed. Angry Nigerians are beginning to regroup to launch massive civil unrest, and a government supposedly planning peaceful and credible elections for Nigerians is not seeing the handwriting on the wall.
“The truth of the matter is that the CBN under the headship of Emefiele is grossly incompetent to carry out any real economic reform or fight corruption since itself, a harbinger of bribery.
“If we may ask, how were the new notes found their way into the hands of hawkers even when they were not available in the Banks? It is simple logic Emefiele who could not stop his men from corruption, and sharp practices cannot lead any genuine anti-corruption war in Nigeria.” Enough of this madness.
“As a group committed to excellent and open governance, we want to use this medium to admonish Nigerians to remain calm, even in the face of this naked provocation from the sitting President. We must not play into the hands of anti-democratic forces. May Nigeria succeed.
Bay States News 