The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily stopped the withdrawal from circulation of the old naira motes on February 10.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, grantee the interim ruling in an ex-parte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states asking that the period for acceptance of the old naira notes be further extended.
The three states had specifically applied for an order of Interim Injunction restraining “the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks, from suspending or determining or ending on Feb. 10, the time frame with which the now older versions of the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations of the naira may no longer be legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.
Delivering ruling on the motion, Justice Okoro, held that “after a careful consideration of the motion ex-parte, this application is granted as prayed.
“An order of Interim Injunction restraining the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks, from suspending or determining or ending on Feb. 10, the time frame with which the now older version of the N200, N500 and N1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.
He accordingly adjourned until Feb. 15, for hearing of the substantive suit.
Moving the application on Wednesday, counsel to the applicants, Barr. A. I. Mustapha, SAN, urged the apex court to grant the application in the interest of justice and the well-being of Nigeria.
He stated that the policy of the government has led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land “.
While he referred to a Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) statistics which put the number of people who don’t have bank accounts at over 60 percent, Mustapha lamented that the few Nigerians with bank accounts can’t even access their monies from the bank as a result of the policy.
The senior lawyer further argued that unless the Supreme Court intervenes the situation will lead to anarchy because most banks are already closing operations.
Recall that on Tuesday, four political parties had secured an injunction from a Federal High Court against the extension of the time frame for the use of the affected old naira notes.
Aside the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, all the other presidential candidates are of the opinion that since the Federal government had decided to phase out the old currency denominations, the dates set by the CBN should remain sacrosanct, for fear that those asking for extension want to use the window to perpetrate vote buying.
They however urged the CBN to make the new notes available for the public to reduce the hardship being encountered by members of the public.
The decision of the Supreme Court was however taken without any of the political parties or their presidential candidates or even the Federal Government and the CBN being heard.
