By Kamsi Anayo
The governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara have dragged the Federal government before the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the new policy.
The lawsuit was filed as a reaction to the excruciating suffering caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Naira redesign policy on the people of the above mentioned states.
The three northern states are praying the Supreme Court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older versions of the 200, 500 and 1000 denominations of the Naira may no longer be legal tender on Feb. 10, in a motion ex-parte filed on their behalf by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN).
Thee Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states are the plaintiffs while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is the sole Respondent.
Plaintiffs in their plea are saying their citizens are unable to access the new notes after taking all their notes to the bank as instructed by the CBN which has drastically affected their daily activities,l.
The three states are insisting that the ten day extension of the deadline for the circulation of the old currency is inadequate to handle the emergent challenges thrown up by the implementation of the policy.
They also cited the inadequacy of the notice coupled with the haphazard manner in which the exercise is being carried out and the attendant hardship same is wrecking on Nigerians, which has been well acknowledged even by the federal government of Nigeria itself.
The three states are also praying the Supreme Court to declare that the three-month notice of the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the expiration of which will render the old Banknotes inadmissible as legal tender, is in gross violation of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 which specifies that Reasonable Notice must be given before such a policy.
The plaintiffs are also seeking the court’s declaration that given the express provisions of Section 20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has no powers to issue a timeline for the acceptance and redeeming of banknotes issued by the Bank, except as limited by Section 22(1) of the CBN Act 2007. The Central Bank shall at all times redeem its bank notes.
The three states praying the court to direct the immediate suspension of the demonetisation of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria until it complies with the relevant provisions of the law.
Details later
