ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Supreme Court of Nigeria has maintained that the use of old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes, still legal.
According to the apex court, the hearing on the 8 February, which paused the implementation of the 10 February deadline ban on the use of old naira notes still subsists.
The court made this clarification following a complaint by Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), lawyer to the Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States respectively.
In a unanimous ruling, a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court had last Wednesday, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government of Nigeria from implementing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 10 February deadline for the swapping of the old naira notes with the new ones.
The judgement followed a motion ex-parte on behalf of three northern states Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, who on 3 February, filed a suit seeking to halt the implementation of the CBN’s policy.
On Wednesday, 15 Frbruary, the apex court adjourned a hearing in the suit banning the use of the old naira to Wednesday, 22 February 2023.
This is coming after nine joined the suit initially filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.
The States are Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto, bringing the new total of plaintiffs to ten. On the other hand, Edo and Bayelsa have filed to be joined as respondents.
The seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro ordered them to amend their processes to be heard as one.
But speaking during the proceeding, Mustapha said the apex government and its agencies have allegedly directed the rejection of the old notes thereby failing to comply with the 8 February court order, Punch reports.
He said that the plaintiff filed a notice of non-compliance with the order of the court order made on 8 February.
“The order has been flouted by the government. We are talking of executive lawlessness here. We have filed an affidavit to that effect… We want the court to renew the order for parties to be properly guided,” he said.
In his response, Justice Okoro asked Mustapha to file a proper application and put forward his complaints, which according to him, would enable the respondent to respond appropriately.
Justice Okoro noted also that there was no need for a renewal of the court’s order since the order made by the court on 8 February was made pending the determination of the motion for injunctions filed by the plaintiff.
However, he maintained that the order still subsists since the motion was not yet heard.