The Federal Government and its agencies were not allowed to enforce the February 10 deadline for the usage of the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling on February 8.
The clarification was given by the court on Wednesday in response to a complaint made by Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), a lawyer for the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, that the Federal Reserve and its agencies had disobeyed the judgment and had reportedly ordered the rejection of the old notes.
Mustapha claimed that the respondent had violated the court’s order from February 8 and that the plaintiff had filed a notice of noncompliance with the order, requesting that the court take appropriate action against the respondent to preserve the court’s honor.
“That order has been disregarded by the government,” he continued. Here, we’re discussing executive lawlessness. To that end, we have filed an affidavit. We urge the court to extend its directive that parties must be appropriately advised.
Mustapha was instructed by Justice John Okoro, who presided over a seven-member court panel, to submit a formal application in order to present his grievances and allow the respondent to answer appropriately.
There was no need for the court’s order to be renewed, Justice Okoro said, because it was issued “pending the conclusion of the plaintiff’s application for injunctions, the order still subsists as the motion is not yet heard.”
In its February 8 decision, the court had stated, “This court considers that there is a real urgency for this court to intervene by the approval of this motion. This court has carefully considered this ex-parte application and the grounds in favor of same.
Therefore, this application is hereby approved as requested.
“That is to say, an order of interim injunction prohibiting the Federal Government of Nigeria, either by itself or acting through the Central Bank of Nigeria and/or the commercial banks, its agents; agencies, corporations, ministries, parastatals, organizations or through any person or persons (natural and artificial) howsoever, from suspending or determining or ending on the 10th of February 2023 the timeframe within which the now outdated 200, 500, and 1000 denominations will continue to be valid.”
However, the Supreme Court has set February 22 for the hearing of the lawsuit filed by the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara contesting the legality of the Federal Government’s naira swap scheme.
