The Supreme Court has insisted that its earlier order on the February 10 deadline for depositing old naira notes subsists.
Contacted by our correspondent for his comment on the development, Chairman, Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, said that the matter was subjudice hence cannot comment on it.
He said that he understood that the Attorney-General of the Federation had filed an application asking the Supreme Court to decline jurisdiction and had been adjourned till next week
He said that he was bothered as a leader of the Bar that these days when matters were in court, they were discussing it, their justiciability, making pronouncements on what might be the likely outcome and their merits and demerits.
“All over the civilised world, you make comments on cases you can criticise in journals, newspapers after the decision, not when the cases are pending and I am also worried. I have been practising law since 1977. I have never seen it. I have never witnessed a situation. I have never come across this kind of era, whereby on the television, on social media, there will be curses against justices, even of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the trial courts.
“People will be calling them names, so my appeal to both lawyers and commentators is that they should hold their peace until next week. Let us see what happens thereafter.
“It is taboo for you to be commenting on matters that are pending. It is not done, but it is now becoming a fascinating thing. It’s becoming the norm, and we are forgetting about the traditions of the profession. And I have seen lawyers, jumping to television stations and making comments, but I will not.
“Let everyone hold his or her peace, let them go to court next week, argue for and against, the AGF, has briefed a team of lawyers, and the three governors have briefed a team of lawyers and by next week, the Supreme Court will be there to give justice. Thereafter comments can now begin. Anyone can say whatever they like by then, but you don’t abuse judges, you don’t call them names,” Olanipekun said.
In his own view, Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, said that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was bound by the order of the Supreme court.
He stated that many people had forgotten that the CBN was not the creation of the constitution but of the National Assembly, adding that the CBN was not one of the executive bodies established under Section 153 of the constitution.
Akintola further said that the CBN doesn’t have the kind of independence people are ascribing to it.
“It’s just a creation of the expertise of the National Assembly and where the Act creating the CBN is in conflict with the constitution, the constitution will prevail.
“The president by virtue of items 5, 6 and 24 of the second schedule, has overall control over the CBN whether the issue of banking currency and what have you. It is on the exclusive list.
“And by virtue of section 5 of the constitution, the president is the chief executive of the federal republic of the country. He has much power. In fact, our president is one of the most powerful presidents in the world. So, people are missing the two, and they have forgotten again that the Supreme Court is not just a court of law; the supreme is also a court of public policy.
“The Supreme Court cannot just fold its hands and allow the country to be engulfed in crisis. There are many judicial decisions to that effect. The Supreme Court is not just a court of law. The Supreme Court has done the right thing in the circumstance and the justices of the Supreme Court should be commended,” he said.
He also stated that those who saying that the CBN was not bound had probably not read through the first to the fifth schedule of the constitution to see the enormous power and the subservient role of the CBN governor. He said, “The CBN is a public officer, the president can remove him.’’
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Sam Erugo, stated that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, and the order it gave must be obeyed whether anyone likes it or not.
Erugo added that he cannot comment on the order of the highest court in the land, noting that it however must be obeyed.
He said the order had to be obeyed in the first place. I think we are lucky that they restrained until the motion is heard and the motion on notice is coming up on the 14, that means they are telling the central bank not to do anything until they hear the matter on the next date.
He stated, “Since the AGF is already filed a preliminary objection, that means those ones will come on that day, so whether we like it or not, that is the order of the Apex court in the land and it has to be obeyed, that is the major issue now, but it has to be obeyed. Lawyers arguing that the Supreme Court doesn’t have jurisdiction, I think they just wanted to cause confusion, and incidentally its APC government and so we are waiting to see where it will end. But the important thing now is that there is a court order which must be obeyed pending when the Supreme Court will change its decision.’’
On his part Norrison Quakers, SAN, noted that the matter was subjudice, adding that the issues raised were already in court. He stated that if the judgment for instance or the ruling was out, a preliminary objection had already been filed by the AGF thus people had to wait to hear what the Supreme Court would say.
Besides, another SAN, Ajibola Aribisala, said he could not comment on the legality of a matter already in court, stating that it was subjudice.
Credit: punchng.com
