Why Supreme Court Suspended Old Naira Notes Deadline

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Thursday, February 9th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Mike Ozekhome, A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has opened up concerning the judgement of the Supreme Court on the February 10 deadline for the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.

The African Examiner writes that the apex court had on Wednesday restrained the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from enforcing the deadline that will establish the end of the banknotes as legal tender in Nigeria.

The court gave the directive after the government of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states dragged the Federal Government to the Supreme Court concerning the scarcity of old and new naira notes because of the CBN’s naira redesign policy.

Speaking on Channels Television on Wednesday night, Ozekhome stated that the Supreme Court has not decided on the matter and the court only paused the implementation of the deadline.

According to the lawyer, the court gave the judgement to stop the subject matter of the suit from being truncated.

He said: “The Supreme Court has not decided the matter. All it has done is to fall back to a decision like Kotoye vs CBN, that in matters of extreme urgency, you can grant an interim order, even if it be an ex-parte, to prevent the subject matter of the suit from being truncated.

“If, for example, the Supreme Court did not make that order, and the only order existing is that of the High Court, it means that the CBN, by 10th of this month, will stop the use of all old notes.

“But what the Supreme Court has said is, ‘Just wait, let us listen to you people,’ not that it has decided that Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna states have any valid case that is actionable because the action is already being challenged with a preliminary objection.

“It is another way of saying, ‘Let us first drive away the fox before we blame the fowl for wandering too far into the forest.”