Why Emefiele cannot be sanctioned by the APC

The ruling All Progressives Congress provided an explanation on Tuesday for why it was unable to punish Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, for disobeying the order of the Supreme Court regarding the contentious cash exchange scheme.

The CBN strategy had caused a shortage of the new naira notes, which had caused stress and incalculable misery for the people.

Several Nigerians have entered various banks over the past two months to express their ire in strange ways, throwing caution to the wind in the process.

On social media, there have been viral videos of consumers knocking down bank gates while wearing only their underwear and threatening to beat up employees.

A number of states, including three well-known APC governors—Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara—were compelled by the situation to bring a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Emefiele and the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.).

The funding crunch led to resentment between the administration and the APC camp, and many claimed it was an underhanded attempt to thwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's bid for the presidency on behalf of the party.

The old N200, N500a, and N1,000 notes should be permitted to coexist with the new ones till December 31, the Supreme Court decided.

The President's order to redesign the new notes without proper consultation was deemed unlawful by the supreme court.
Yet, the CBN disregarded the judgment and plunged Nigerians into yet another tumultuous situation.
While Emefiele was one of the party candidates who purchased presidential nomination forms, the decision to appoint or fire him ultimately rests with the President, according to Felix Morka, the APC's national publicity secretary, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.

"The president has legal authority and authority granted by the CBN Act. As I already stated, the president is in charge of all decisions relating to the hiring and firing of the CBN governor. The party's stance on that is unimportant. He chooses to make the choice.

Buhari has denied telling Emefiele and Abubakar Malami, the federation's attorney general, to disobey the Supreme Court's ruling on the naira redesign strategy.

In a string of tweets sent out by the presidency on Monday night, Buhari issued the disclaimer.

He claims that the excuse of awaiting instructions does not allow the apex bank to refuse to obey court rulings.