Old Naira swap: Supreme Court adjourns, joins 9 states to suit

Admin l Wednesday, February 15, 2023

 

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Supreme Court of Nigeria today adjourned sitting in the issue of old Naira swap brought before it by the governors of the All Progressive Congress(APC) to February 22, just three days to February 25 presidential and National assembly elections.

The suit was brought before the court by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, that of Kogi State,  Mr. Yahaya Bello and his counterpart from Zamfara, Mr. Bello Matawale.

In the suit, marked SC/CV/162/2023 filed  on February 3rd, 2023 through their Attorneys-General, led by Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN),  the APC  governors are seeking  among others a declaration:

“That the demonetisation policy being currently carried out by the CBN under the directive of the President is not in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution, CBN Act 2007 and extant laws on the subject.

“That the three-month notice given by the Federal Government through the CBN, under the directive of the President, 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 CBN Act 2007 which specifies that reasonable notice must be given before such a policy”.

However, today  before the adjournment, the  Supreme Court joined nine States as parties in the suit.

In a ruling a moment ago,  the nine-member panel, led by Justice John Okoro, joined the Attorneys General of Katsina, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Cross River and Sokoto States as co-plaintiffs, while the Attorneys General of Edo and Bayelsa states were joined as co-respondents.

The panel also urged parties to amend their processes before the  February 22 date for hearing.