Old Naira Note Still Valid, Legal – Supreme Court
The apex court in Nigeria, also known as Supreme court has affirmed validity of old Naira notes in Nigeria
The Supreme Court upheld the use of old 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes on Wednesday.
The top court upheld the February 8 hearing, which halted the execution of the February 10 deadline restriction on the use of outdated naira notes.
The court’s explanation came in response to a complaint filed by Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), a lawyer for the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, respectively.
According to Newsmen, a seven-member Supreme Court bench unanimously issued an interim injunction last Wednesday preventing the Federal Government from enforcing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s February 10 deadline for exchanging old naira notes for new ones.
The decision followed an ex-parte motion filed on behalf of three northern states, Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, who launched a complaint on February 3rd seeking to prevent the CBN’s policy execution.
The Supreme Court deferred a hearing in the case prohibiting the use of the old naira until Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
This comes after nine states joined the complaint originally filed by Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara.
The additional claimants are from Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Sokoto states, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to ten.
Edo and Bayelsa, on the other hand, have petitioned to be joined as respondents.
The seven-member panel, chaired by Justice John Okoro, ruled that their processes be combined so that they may be heard as one.
However, Mustapha stated during the hearing that the top government and its agencies reportedly instructed the rejection of the old notes, hence failing to comply with the February 8 court ruling.
According to him, the plaintiff filed a notice of noncompliance with the February 8 court order.
“The government has disobeyed the decree.
We are discussing executive lawlessness here.
We have filed an affidavit in this regard…
“We ask the court to rescind the ruling so that the parties can be properly directed,” he added.
In his response, Justice Okoro requested that Mustapha submit a thorough application and present his grievances.
He said that doing so would allow the respondent to reply correctly.
According to Okoro, there was no need for the court’s order to be renewed because the order issued on February 8 was made awaiting the result of the plaintiff’s application for injunctions.
He, on the other hand, claimed that the order was still in effect because the motion had not yet been heard.
