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Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, was boiling with anger all through last week. And to those who stoke his anger, he issued a stern warning. To them and to those Nigerians, who, he says, want to bring opprobrium on the Supreme Court of Nigerian Justices, he promised them a red eye. No one, he declared, should dare the authority of the Supreme Court and its ability to wield the big gun.
As we all know, we are in a season of general, overflowing anger; a season of collective pain. It is a season, the authorities, which have made life a living hell for most Nigerians upped the ante and compounded the woes of the people, with an ill-thought-through policy which the politicians and saboteur-bankers latched on to, to wreak havoc on the citizenry. i am of course talking about the instigated hooplas, the fiasco which attended the withdrawal of three denominations of the Nigerian currency. It turned out a week of boiling mischief, anger and frustration.
Nigerians are hopelessly at their wits end. No Light. No money. No Fuel. They are engulfed in a death-and-life situation. This for a fault traceable to politicians, the CBN, corrupt bankers and the federal government. They are moaning and groaning. Their inability to get the new Naira notes, or at worst the old ones, to buy even groceries or transact ordinary daily chores, has become a death sentence. Politicians are shouting from impure mouths, both in favour and against. All, nonetheless, agree that something needs to be done to ease the pains of the ordinary people on the street. Meaning: “CBN, don’t interfere with our ability to use money to influence the outcome of the proposed elections.”
Then the Supreme Court attempted an intervention which will either be solidified today or thrown to the dogs when it rules on the objection brought before it by the CBN and the Attorney General. The CBN order came in the form of a rather controversial pronouncement. Almost all were taken unawares. To some pleasantly and to others, a curious, raised eyebrow. This is because not many were aware that a case had been instituted at the Supreme Court or any court for that matter, not to talk of an order emanating therefrom, unexpectedly.
Attempting to douse the tension in the land, the Supreme Court ruled that the Central Bank of Nigeria and the federal authorities should not implement the then new deadline to roll out fully, and end the use of the old N1000, N500 and N200 notes till the determination of a case brought before it by three northern states All Progressives Congress, APC, governors. The old notes were to cease to be legal tenders since last week Friday, the 10th of February, 2023. A fact the CBN reiterated yesterday.
Recall that the APC and its presidential flag bearer, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have been up in arms against the Naira Redesign policy which they claimed was specifically targeted at them. They decided to use the services of the Supreme Court in thwarting the full implementation of the policy. Without joining the CBN and other critical stakeholders, they got the Supreme Court to grant them an ex parte order which the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, squirmed at. A potpourri of commentaries have since flooded the media space, coating the Supreme Court in demonic hues of an appendage to certain individuals and party.
This has prompted a riled CJN to warn that the Supreme Court’s silence, on attacks on its judicial officers, must not be mistaken for weakness or cowardice. Of course, the CJN did not just get angry over the muted criticism of this particular judgement alone. For truth be told, he has not had an easy time with the media and some critics since he went to Port Harcourt and committed a faux pax that needed a massive re-interpretation of what he said and/or did not say. Controversial Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, hosted him to a dinner where he made comments which were widely interpreted to mean that he was in agreement with the G5 Governors. To growing criticism, the Supreme Court came out with a denial. After that there was also the need to issue another rebuttal, a statement to debunk an alleged interrogation of the CJN by the DSS over these comment and other contrived ones.
Add to this the public disbelief, when assumed clear cases of senatorial aspirants under the APC who lost at the lower courts were all given a clean bill by the Supreme Court. Starting with Governor Dave Umayi of Ebonyi state, to Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state; and recently, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, who wanted to be president and so didn’t contest in the party’s initial primaries for senatorial candidates. The Supreme Court gave all of them their tickets. This is even against the background that there is already a Governor of Imo State, who the opposition till today calls the Supreme Court governor of Imo State. Recall that in the elections, he came a distant fourth but went to court pleading what not. He had a bullion van of votes which INEC said were not part of the electoral votes on the day. Based on some technicalities, the impossible happened. He was pronounced the elected candidate by the Supreme Court to the utter shock and disbelief of the people of Imo State and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose candidate, INEC had earlier declared as duly elected; and had been sworn in.
It is getting to a stage that not a few Nigerians are losing respect for some judgements of the Supreme Court. It is from this angle, I think, Justice Ariwoola will do more than just issuing a threat to deal with those who make a mockery of the justices of the court and their judgements. The CJN can always remember that the impression is out there, like Richard Akinnola once pointed out, that Justice Ariwoola should not be seen as trying to muscle and put the press on a leach. That will bring him more odium than he can ever live down. He should work to win the respect of Nigerians.
That said, Chief Justice Ariwoola is gradually acquiring an unsavoury reputation, swarmed by controversies and rebuttal press releases.