Speaker Gbajabiamila vows to reconvene House if Naira notes swap continues to cause hardship  

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon.  Femi Gbajabiamila, at a town hall meeting with some ethnic groups in Surulere, Lagos, on Sunday, cautioned that he will reconvene the House and recall members from their break if the redesigned Naira notes swap continues to cause hardship in the country. The Speaker noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not above the law, noting that though some may argue for the autonomy of the CBN.

Rt. Hon. Gbajabiamila was quoted his media aide, Lanre Lasisi, to have declared at the Town Hall meeting that, “Many have argued on the independence of CBN, the autonomy of CBN. That does not make CBN above the law. The constitution gives the House the power to issue an arrest warrant against anyone, we can summon anybody, and that was exactly what the House was going to do until the CBN governor came,

“So, we are watching, and we are monitoring very closely. If need be, we will reconvene the House, even though we’ve all been away for our elections. I will call the House back if need be.”

The Speaker further said: “We summoned the CBN governor the first time and again, but he refused to answer because we had many hard questions for him.

“It was until I issued the threat of warrant of arrest before he came, and I would’ve signed that warrant; it would’ve been the first time in the history of the National Assembly that a CBN governor would be arrested. I would’ve done it.”

Gbajabiamila further stated: “Many are suffering, we have paid your salary, and you cannot withdraw it; people cannot eat, what kind of thing is that?”

Commending the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for speaking up against the redesigned Naira notes swap crisis, the Speaker said: “There’s one man who is running for president of this country, and that man has courage and audacity. This man came out boldly and identified the problem, that the fifth columnists, in cooperation with the PDP, are the ones trying to sabotage this election.

“If nothing changes, we will intervene again, but be sure of one thing: that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands with you and stands with Nigerians in their suffering. He was the first to shout what is going on? He has cried, he has begged, he has screamed that people are suffering.”