House Speaker Threatens To Arrest Emefiele

The Speaker of the house of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has threatened to invoke the provisions of section 89(D) of the 1999 Constitution as amended to compel the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emiefele to appear before the House.

Newjet.ng recalled that last Tuesday at plenary the House set up an ad-hoc committee to interface with the CBN and Managing Directors of Banks on the scarcity of the redesigned naira notes and cashless policy and want the apex bank to extend the deadline for deposit of the old notes by six months.

Section 89 of the 1999 constitution as Amended gives the parliament power to issue a warrant of arrest on anybody who refuses to honour an invitation from them.

But because the CBN Governor or his representative had not honoured the House invitation for a meeting by 3.00pm on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Adhoc Commîttee, Ado Doguwa, rescheduled for Thursday.

According to Doguwa, the Committee received a letter from the Invitees that they received the invitation late on Tuesday evening and so would not be available for the scheduled meeting on Wednesday.

But a letter read on the floor of the House on Thursday by the Speaker and signed by CBN’s Deputy Governor, Corporate Services said Emefiele will not honour the invitation because he was part of President Buhari’s delegation to Dakar, Senegal.

Reacting to the letter, Gbajabiamila said though the CBN Governor was a personal friend, he and other members of the House have a constitutional duty to perform.

According to him, the refusal of the CBN Governor to honour the invitation or send a representative to the House was not acceptable and that the bank must attend the meeting summoned by the House before the close of business on Thursday.

He said: “The resolution of the House was predicated on information showing that the rollout of the redesigned naira notes has been an unmitigated failure. This failure has real and dire consequences on the ability of Nigerians to conduct business across the country. The refusal by the CBN to heed the invitation by the House of Representatives is evidence of a blatant disregard for the well-being of the Nigerian people who are their customers. It is also an insult to the authority and prerogatives of the people’s parliament.

“Therefore, if by the end of today there is further disregard to the summons of this House, I will, without hesitation, and pursuant to the authority conferred by Section 89 (1)(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Order 19 (2)(1) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police Force to compel the attendance of the CBN or Managing Directors who fail, refuse or neglect to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives.

“Let me repeat for the avoidance of doubts: I will, pursuant to the authority conferred by Section 89(1)(8) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Order 19(2)(1) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police Force to compel the attendance of the CBN and all the Managing Directors who fail, refuse or neglect to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives”.

According to Speaker Gbajabiamila, “the House of Representatives recognises the Central Bank of Nigeria’s authority to determine the country’s legal tender and to recall currency with reasonable notice, subject to the approval of the President. The House is also aware that Section 20 (3) Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act mandates the CBN to redeem the face value of the recalled currency upon demand, even after the expiration of the notice of recall.

But he said that “notwithstanding the deadline imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), this House will see to it that this provision of the law is honoured in full”.

“Now let me explain that again: the CBN Act, under Section 20, allows the Central Bank to change the legal tender. It also says that after the expiration date, such naira notes changed will no longer be legal tender, but it also says that even five months, three months, or two months after, even in June, all the old notes presented to the bank shall be redeemed by the bank. That point needs to be made to the Central Bank and to the public. It has not been made. It is a provision of law. Gentlemen, if you recollect in 2009 and 2010, the then Governor of the Central Bank, Charles Soludo, introduced polymer notes and wanted to phase out N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes.

“There was public outcry because of the time. At the end of the day, it was halted. What did he do? He did what all known Central banks do all over the world; he allowed for those N50 notes to continue in existence whilst introducing new notes, until everything was mopped up by the banks. So, they were operating side by side for the good of the people. And this is all that thus House is asking, either an extension or pari pasu.

“So, Section 20(3) of the Central Bank Act is perhaps what is most important right now; that after the deadline, whilst the old notes will no longer be legal tender…in other words I cannot go to a supermarket, buy goods and bring out my old notes. Even of the waiter decides to accept it, any old note, even the ones in the supermarket, if they decide a month later to take that money to the bank, the bank is under statutory obligation to accept it and redeem it at face value. That is the position of the law as passed by the National Assembly”, he added.

The Speaker urged the lawmakers to ensure that this issue to be concluded today.

“Unfortunately, gentlemen, please, it is a sacrifice.The Senate has gone on break yesterday. We were supposed to close the House today, so that everybody could go and prepare for elections in four weeks. But we may need to make a day or couple of days’ sacrifice.Instead of adjourning this House to February 28, today, just to make sure we resolve this issue we might need to come back Tuesday morning”. He said.The green chamber had invited the leadership of the central Bank of Nigeria CBN, alongside other Commercial banks to address the Cash swap policy.