By Elsie Udoh
President Muhammadu Buhari has left Nigerians confused about his stand following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the validity of the old naira notes.
Buhari, who had stayed mute since the apex court decision on extending the validity of the existing naira notes till December 31, released an official statement via Twitter on Monday evening.
In the statement shared by Garba Shehu, his spokesperson, Buhari revealed that he did not “instruct the Attorney General and the CBN Governor to disobey any court orders involving the government and other parties.”
Shehu also addressed that the President “has not done anything knowingly and deliberately to interfere with or obstruct the administration of justice” and referred to the blames on the President for the current controversy over the cash scarcity as “wide off.”
In addition, the presidential spokesperson noted that the CBN had no reason not to comply with court orders on the excuse of waiting for directives from the President.
The President was, however, not clear in the statement regarding his stand on the Supreme Court ruling and many Nigerians have reacted to this stating that Buhari had merely played around with words.
A Twitter user, @woleoja wrote, “This statement isn’t clear and it seems you played around with words here. The president made a statement for the 200 naira notes, he should do same for this to reduce confusion in the economic space. Businesses are losing a lot.”
Another user, @Onyekachisolex expressed, “So what’s the stand of Mr. President? He should come out and make a public statement like before and tell us whether the old notes remain legal tender or not! That’s all we’re asking now.”
“So, after all these series of tweets, no simple and clear statement on the stand of the government on the Supreme Court judgement in regard to the CBN currency swap policy? Na wa o,” yet another Twitter user @delestar1 lamented.
