*Expresses Disappointment In AGF, Malami’s Reaction To The Order
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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Robert Clark SAN has expressed satisfaction with the order of the Supreme Court suspending the February 10 deadline by the Central Bank Of Nigeria for the swap of old 200, 500, and 1000 Naira notes to the new ones.
The Senior Advocate and Elder Statesman made his position known in an interview at Arise News Channel this morning.
According to him, despite the arguments questioning the jurisdiction of the Apex Court to issue such order given the nature of the subject matter and parties before the it, the Government is effectively bound to obey the said order pending its vacation by the Court.
He further expressed disappointment with the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN on his reaction to the order.
He berated the AGF for canvassing that the Supreme Court delivered the order out of jurisdiction because a necessary party, being the CBN, was not joined to the suit.
According to him, “Is the joinder or non-joinder of a party to a suit, a jurisdictional matter to the court?” No!
“Secondly, the Constitution, Section 5 of the Constitution has vested all Executive powers on the President. When you sue a principal in a case, and you don’t bring the agent. What is your palaver?”
He continued, “the Federal Government is the principal character when it comes to monetary policy, the CBN is only an agent. The law is very clear. When you sue a principal, you don’t need to drag an agent before the Court. Therefore, I believe there is no merit in this preliminary objection by the AGF. ”
On the Independence of the Central Bank, Clark insisted that however independent the Central Bank is, it still takes directives from the President under the law.
He lambasted the new Naira policy, and said it has occasioned hardship on Nigerians, and noted that the Supreme Court should be thanked for averting an impending crisis that would have erupted due to the persistent lack of cash.
He also said, “Interim injunctions, whether from the Supreme Court or from the Court of Appeal and from the Federal High Court or State High Court, are limited in the number of days they can stand as a law.
“One thing you have to admit is that interim that is giving ex-parted is one of the illegal actions been taken by the court because they are not hearing the other side. The democracy of Nigeria doesn’t permit it; it says in a democracy when there is a matter, both sides must be listened to.
“But, however, interim orders even by nature in, quote, illegal. The law says, OK we will cure this illegality by keeping it for only fifteen days or ten days. Therefore when the court says I will listen to the merit of the matter, that period legalizes the legality of the order, and on the day it is being heard, the interim order ceases to exist because the matter now is being heard on merit by the court.
“Therefore, if the court starts listening to it on the 15 [of February] as the Supreme Court has said, there is no illegality continue from that date because, after the hearing, the Supreme Court will make another order which will satisfy the constitution and satisfy all litigants.”
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