The Federal Government has agreed to suspend the 10 February deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on the exchange of naira notes, in accordance to the Supreme Court ruling.
Recall that the apex court in its ruling on Wednesday, suspended the 10 February deadline on the old naira notes which expires today.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who confirmed this in an interview on Arise TV yesterday, said the government was hopeful that the ex parte ruling which expires on Wednesday, 15 February, 2023, would be upturned.
He said the CBN, which is a necessary party to the issue, was not joined and that consequently, the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to decide on the matter in the first instance.
Malami, however, said that the decision of the government to obey the Supreme Court order on the naira deadline was based on the administration’s respect for the rule of law.
He said: “An interim order was granted by the Supreme Court and that order was to lapse on Wednesday (February 15) and incidentally, that was the day the court fixed for hearing of the motion. With the position in mind, we have taken steps to file our objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter. Jurisdiction on the ground that when you talk of monetary policy, Central Bank is an indispensable and necessary party in the matter.
“A situation where the Central Bank is not joined in the matter as a party and if the Central Bank as an institution is not joined as a party, the law is clear that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be invoked. So, we have given consideration to diverse issues, inclusive of the issue of jurisdiction and we will argue it from that perspective.
“There is no doubt that the ruling of the Supreme Court, regardless of the circumstance, is binding and within the context of the spirit of the rule of law, so the issue of disobedience to the ruling of the Supreme Court is out of it. We agree wholeheartedly that we are bound by it and we will comply by it.”
There was tension on Thursday as the CBN kept Nigerians guessing on whether the old N200, N500 and N1,000 would cease to be legal tenders starting from Friday, 10 February or not following the Supreme Court order to extend the deadline.
The apex bank did not issue any statement on the interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, restraining the Federal Government from implementing the CBN’s currency swap deadline until Wednesday, 15 February, 2023.
However, the CBN on its website on Thursday night, indicated that the validity of the old currency notes would end today.
Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, had in an ex-parte motion filed on 3 February, prayed the apex court to halt the CBN naira redesign policy.
The apex court, after giving the ruling, adjourned the matter till Wednesday, 15 February, 2023 for the hearing of the substantive case.
In its reaction, the Federal Government through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, filed an objection against the Supreme Court.
The AGF, in a preliminary objection filed through his lawyers, Tijanni Gazali and Mahmud Magaji, stated that the Supreme Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The AGF argued that the plaintiffs had equally not shown reasonable cause of action against the defendant.
The CBN had announced on Wednesday, 26 October, 2022, that it would redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes at a press conference, adding that the new notes would be available from 15 December, 2022.
The apex bank had hinged the decision to redesign the currency notes on the need to make the apex bank’s monetary policies effective while entrenching its cashless policy.
The CBN Governor who made the announcement, said the new notes would co-exist with the old ones while the old ones would cease to be legal tender as from 31 January, 2023.
However, due to the scarcity of the new notes which foisted hardship on the people, the CBN on 29 January, announced a 10-day extension of the deadline for the use of old naira notes across the country.
Opinions were divided on the decision of the apex bank to extend the deadline. While some people, including Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate and Nyesom Wike, Rivers State governor, wanted the deadline to be further extended, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidate, called on the apex bank to ensure the availability of the new notes rather than extending the deadline.
On Tuesday, 7 February, 2023, a Federal Capital Territory High Court, ruling in a motion filed by five political parties, issued a restraining order on President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN Governor and 27 commercial banks from extending the currency swap deadline.
The ruling by the Supreme Court has, however, rendered the High Court order ineffectual.
