Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari was wrongly advised by insisting on the ban of the N500 and N1000 notes despite an ex parte order by the Supreme Court.
The President had during a national broadcast on Thursday approved the re-circulation of just the old N200 notes until April 10 and this has generated mixed feelings with a majority of legal experts opining that Buhari overided the Supreme Court with the decision.
Keyamo said although the President has the best of intentions for Nigeria and Nigerians, he may have been ill-advised.
He further said that Buhari’s speech acknowledged that there were certain matters in court and that the President believed he was playing safe by intervening to curtail the growing tension across the country.
Appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Friday, Keyamo said, “My view is that the president acted with honesty, without intention to slight the Supreme Court but he may have acted on wrong advice. I did not give that advice; it is not my responsibility. I don’t know who gave that advice. I want to say this openly because tomorrow, people will ask me where I stood at this time.
“Now, if I were to advise him, I would have advised differently to comply strictly with the terms of the order of the Supreme Court that all the old notes should circulate for now side by side with the new notes because that is the order of the Supreme Court.
“All authorities in Nigeria must obey the orders of the Supreme Court. Anything to the contrary is a descent to anarchy.”
