The Supreme Court of Nigeria has issued a restraining order
to President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop him from withdrawing old N200, N500 and
N1000 banknotes in circulation.
They supreme court faulted the entire policy of the CBN, saying the timing and implementation were defective.
The apex court ruled that the president did not follow the
provisions of the constitution before implementing the policy, by consulting
the National Security Council and National Economic Council before implementing
The judgement was read by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday morning in the presence of governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) who first instituted the suit.
The Court faulted Mr Buhari’s statement in his February 16
broadcast where he said the naira redesign was in line with global practices,
noting countries like UK and Australia allowed both old and new notes to
co-exist for not less than one year.
The court ruled that the old and the new banknotes should be
allowed to be in circulation until December 31, 2023.
In October 2022, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, announced
the plan to redesign the naira to control money supply and aid security
agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.
The redesigned naira notes were unveiled on December 23,
2022.
The deadline for the implementation of the policy was fixed
for January 31, 2023, but it was further extended to February 10.
On February 3, a suit was initiated by Kaduna, Kogi, and
Zamfara before the supreme court challenging the implementation of the policy.
Five days later, the supreme court restrained the CBN from
giving effect to the deadline on the use of old notes following an ex parte
application brought by the three states.
Thirteen (13) other states later joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.
The states argued that the implementation of the policy has caused untold
hardship for Nigerians.
Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation
(AGF), who is the sole respondent, had, however, filed a preliminary objection
to the suit.
The AGF argued that the supreme court lacks the jurisdiction
to entertain the matter and that the suit ought to have been filed before a
federal high court.
Malami also said the plaintiffs failed to join the CBN in
the suit.
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