There is no other way outside a mortal injury to the rule of law, to interpret President Muhammadu Buhari’s order on Thursday for only the N200 notes to return to live, contrary to that of the Supreme Court, which ordered the same status for the N500 and N1,000, legal luminary, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has said.

Ozekhome, reacting to the President’s intervention in a national broadcast for only the N200 to remain a legal tender out of the three which lifespan was pegged for February 10, said the move was wrong, as it constituted an attempt to vary the orders of the apex court, which nobody, including Buhari, had the powers to.

Ozekhome said the President’s act was “a direct assault” on the authority of the apex court, the head of the Judiciary and the third arm of government, warning that the order had invited chaos, anarchy and national upheaval.

Advancing that the Federal Government was using the naira redesign policy to oppress and torment its citizens, Ozekhome, in a statement Friday morning, lashed out at the President bemoaning a situation, where for no fault of theirs, Nigerians were now being forced to be buying their own money with their own money at exorbitant exchange rates.

He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari unilaterally varied the apex court’s extant order of maintenance of status quo, by directing the CBN Governor to the effect that “the old N200 banknotes be released back into circulation…to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500 and N1000 bank notes for 60 days…”.

“The President then issued a dicta, more in the form of a military Decree, that, “in line with section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007, all existing old N1000 and N500 notes remain redeemable at the CBN and designated prints.”

“This order is a clear violation of and disobedience to the existing order of the apex court which had already maintained the status quo ante bellum of all parties involved in the Naira re-design dispute. Following the adjournment of the state’s suit against the Federal Government till February 22, for full hearing, “Every Nigerian had expected that the Federal Government would respect this apex court’s position.

“But President Buhari demurred. He made himself Supreme Leader; an Emperor; Potentate, Mikado and Overlord. Buhari’s broadcast to the nation therefore literally overruled the Supreme Court of the land, in a way and manner only a military tyrant could ever contemplate.

“Buhari’s action is a reminder of the apocryphal saying of autocratic and despotic Emperor Louis XIV, who, on 13th April, 1655, stood in front of Parliament and imperiously declared, ‘L’Etat C’est Moi (I am the State).’

“For the President to have whimsically and capriciously varied the apex court’s order is the same as picking and choosing what order to obey or disobey. This breaches the supremacy of the 1999 Constitution provided for in section 1(1) and also “frontally assaults” section 287(1) of the Constitution which provides that “the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court. Once given, an order of the court is binding on all.”

Urging the court to apply its hammer, Ozekhome, said: “This is one instance where the apex court should bare its teeth and bite. This is more so because President Buhari had himself acknowledged in his speech, the pendency of the matter before the Supreme Court. Surely, no one is above the law; not even President Muhammadu Buhari himself.

“Buhari’s broadcast rather than be re-assuring and balming the frayed nerves of a traumatised citizenry and a beleaguered nation, was the exact opposite; a complete anti-climax. It was a clarion call for total disenchantment, disillusionment, despair and desolation.

“The speech was not only highly unpresidential; but was vividly insensate and insensitive to the suffering of Nigerian citizens, who, due to no fault of theirs, can neither now use the old currency, nor access the new one.

“Banks claim not to have the new currency in their vaults. What manner of government would consciously and deliberately throw its country into a spin, and its citizens under the bus, in a policy that could have been handled with better planning and more decency, efficiency and human face?

“This is the first time in my life I watch Nigerians buy money with money – buying Naira with Naira – at exorbitant exchange rates.”

Three persons reporteely died last Wednesday in Benin, Edo State after a protest at the entrance of the state branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria turned violent.

There have also been violent protests in Edo, Oyo, Delta, Kwara, Ondo, Benue and Akwa Ibom over the matter.

The lawyer noted that other countries, such the United Kingdom in September 2022, redesigned their currencies “There were no violent protests or any upheavals because the citizens immediately bought into the historic and laudable project, as it afforded them enough time to put their house in order.

“We have seen the ugly scenes of frustrated Nigerians fighting at ATMs; or going completely nude; students and soldiers fighting each other; some POS holders being burnt alive; while police shot and killed unarmed Nigerians.

“Are we a cursed nation, that an otherwise beautiful policy whose fiscal, monetary, economic, and development advantages are unquantifiable should be so mishandled and so grossly messed up as to lead to widespread national protests; burning of banks; destruction; mayhem and killings. Just what is wrong with us as a Nation? I do not know; or do you?”

Citing similar currency redesigns by Russia and China, he said: “Chinese currency comes by two names – the Chinese Yuan (CNY) and the People’s Renminbi (RMB). The distinction is subtle: because while the Renminbi is the official currency of China, the Yuan is the principal unit of account for that currency.

“Today, the Renminbi is one of the top-five most-used currencies in the world, in addition to the U.S. Dollar, Euro, Yen, and the British Pound.

“Yet, the Naira which is not even recognised as a legal tender in any part of the world is being used by the government to oppress and torment its citizens. In December, 2019, eight West African countries agreed to change the name of their common currencies to ECO without any problems.

“Yet, some Nigerians, for political exigencies or correctness, are shamelessly celebrating a bare-faced assault on the common man and woman and the authority of the Supreme Court. This was the same way despotic Hitler of Germany was celebrated, applauded and deified during the third Reich, until it became irredeemably too late to retreat.

“Though having a cashless economy appears quite inviting, appealing, titillating and tantalizing, it must be appreciated that advanced countries such as the UK, US and the EU that have full complement of infrastructure, still use coins.

“A cent in the US, or penny in the UK are still valued and in wide circulation. When last did you see one Kobo, five Kobo or ten Kobo coins in Nigeria? I have not seen any for years. Or have you?”