Dr Hope Nwawolo

By Hope Nwawolo

On the 3rd of March, the Supreme Court gave the much awaited judgment on the naira notes swap policy, directing that the old notes continued to be legal tender until the end of the year. Immediately, there was jubilation from most Nigerians, but particularly the fore-runners of the fight against the policy. They took the federal government to court in the first place and so it was a case of victory for them. They gave press release and had press briefings to announce their victory. It did not stop there!
Since the judgment was given, the political anti-naira swap campaigners, while praising and commending the judiciary, have continued to call on the federal government to ensure compliance with the directive of the apex court.

The main reason these campaigners gave for their intense disagreement with the policy, was that it was a suffering pill suddenly forced down the throats of the citizens. They were right because it took everyone by surprise and the banks could not meet the requests of the political strong and mighty at the crucial period of the first elections. On the other hand, most people felt, and so it now seems, the naira swap policy date was for prevention against vote buying and vote selling during the presidential election.

It did not really come as a surprise to some of us when the court adjourned the case to two days before the presidential election. Even a legal lay man will reason that was done to buy time and that the matter would be adjourned again to after the presidential election. That was exactly what happened. This was a case of acting out a script and who can do this better that the Nigerian politicians. It did not come as a surprise again therefore, when judgment was awarded in favour of the complainants; after the presidential election of course. Somehow, both the complainants and defendants have been assuaged, indirectly, while the apex court escaped being made a scape goat.

Nigerians should by now understand some political gimmicks thrown at them by the politicians of our motherland. How do you explain a single case that took every segment of the citizens into consideration during and after the procedure of the matter? Before the presidential election, many people were of the opinion the policy was for good and looked forward to having the election that would produce the results they desired and hope for…without any hitch. On the other hand, the campaigners against the policy were indirect beneficiaries, because while they clamoured for a reversal, they portrayed themselves as social crusaders for the suffering masses. In the same line, the CBN and FG gave the impression they were against their own party members and were applauded in some quarters. Unfortunately, in all these, attention of most critics and analysts was diverted from the obvious unpreparedness of INEC for the election. In all of this, there was a level of chaos that favoured the political class while for the ordinary citizen, it was a case of ‘’the more you look, the less you see’’.

The judgement has been given against the policy and again it favoured same group of political class and generality of the people. For the masses, the sudden ‘black market purchase’ of their hard earned money should come to an end and people will access their money as they want. This is a welcome development considering the horrendous experiences Nigerians went through in the past few weeks. For the anti-policy campaigners, they have tagged themselves defenders of the masses. They also believe they have made history and promised the masses that no president in future will again attempt to do what the federal government did. For the CBN and Federal government, the mood and next actions are still shrouded in suspicion, and hence, the clamour and warnings for compliance to the judgment of the apex court.

Moving forward and based on the controversial result of the presidential election, it is expected that the same judiciary will have many litigations to resolve. It is also hoped that judgment will be given as swift as that of the naira swap policy. This humble writer and many more of like minds, will be on ground to analyse reactions of the masses, political class and the Federal government, for or against the case. Another group is the lawyers who give different interpretations to the constitution at different times.

Surprisingly, in the judgment of the naira swap policy, most lawyers agreed with it and spoke glowingly of the rule of law and rightly so. However, with the presidential election, they seemed to be divided and in their division, have confused the masses who put trust on them to interpret a section of the constitution on the declaration of the winner of a presidential election with or without 25% victory in the federal capital territory. From every indication, the judiciary will have several applications for the right interpretation of the constitution on this. This is in addition to the position of the court on the general conduct of the presidential election and coming elections
The crux of this article is that when the apex court finally takes a stand by way of giving judgment to coming election petitions…hopefully soon too, and no matter whose ox is gored, anger should not flare. It is also hoped that our politicians will maintain their respect for the judiciary and the rule of law, as well as declare to the masses that the court has done justice in their defence of their mandate or appeal for fair and credible election results. That will just be the right thing to do!

Hope Nwawolo, Ph.D.
[email protected]