AGF asks the Supreme Court to dismiss a suit filed by three northern state governments challenging the February 10 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria to end the legal tender status of the old naira notes.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The confusion trailing the currency swap by the central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), continues to widen as the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a suit filed by three northern state governments challenging the February 10 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria to end the legal tender status of the old naira notes.
The Federal Government argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in a preliminary objection filed by the AGF through his lawyers, Mahmud Magaji and Tijanni Gazali.
Consequently, the Federal Government is asking the apex court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
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In court filings dated February 8, 2023, the AGF contends that “the plaintiffs have equally not shown reasonable cause of action against the defendant.”
The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, halted the move of the Federal Government in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.
All the three states are governed by governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The states argued that there has been a 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.
The further maintained that the CBN policy is imposing a lot of hardship on Nigerians and insisted that the ten-day extension by the Federal Government is still insufficient to address the challenges of Nigerians swapping their old Naira notes for new ones.
The states urged the Supreme Court to compel President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN and commercial banks to rescind the February 10 deadline for the old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes as Nigeria’s legal tender.
The case has been adjourned to Wednesday, February 15, 2023.