Supreme Court Dismissed PDP Suit Seeking To Disqualify Oyetola From Osun Poll
Supreme Court Dismissed PDP Suit Seeking To Disqualify Oyetola From Osun Poll

Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara,And 14 Parties Filed Counter Suits Over Old Naira Notes Deadline

Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara,And 14 Parties Filed Counter Suits Over Old Naira Notes Deadline

Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State government have gone to the supreme court to challenge Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the implementation of the old naira change/deadline policy.

The three state governments, in an expatriate motion filed by their counsel, Abdullahi Mustapha, are seeking an interim injunction to stop the CBN from making the old  N200, N500, and N1,000, invalid from February 10.

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Supreme Court Dismissed PDP Suit Seeking To Disqualify Oyetola From Osun Poll

They cites an acute shortage of the newly designed naira notes across the country, after people had deposited their old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes in banks.

In the motion, the three state governments argued that the extension of the deadline for the validity of the old notes to February 10, could not address the challenges that customers are facing to withdraw money from their banks accounts.

No date has been fixed for hearing the application.

Meanwhile, the Plaintiffs in the suit are the three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states, while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is the sole Respondent.

The Plaintiffs said that since the announcement of the new naira note policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new naira notes in Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States and that citizens who have dutifully deposited their old naira notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access new naira notes to go about their daily activities.

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 Plaintiffs further maintained that the ten-day extension by the Federal Government is still insufficient to address the challenges bedeviling the policy.

Recall that over the weekend, the CBN Governor at a press conference held in Lagos insisted that that the apex bank will not extend the deadline for swapping old naira notes with the newly redesigned ones.

In the suit filed at the apex court, the Plaintiffs have also filed a motion on notice to abridge the time within which the Respondent may file and serve his Counter-Affidavit to this Suit and an order for an accelerated hearing of this matter.

The states are seeking a declaration that the Demonetization Policy of the Federation being currently carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and actual laws on the subject.

They are also asking the court to make a declaration that the three-month notice given by the Federal Government of Nigeria through 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.

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