Naira Swap: 10 States Ask Apex Court To Nullify Buhari’s Directive
Afimag.com –
Ten state governments have approached the supreme court, asking it to declare the new directive of the President Muhammadu Buhari reintroducing the old N200 notes and declaring old N500 and N1,000 notes unlawful.
This was after the apex court did not leave the order that the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes are still legal tender. The plaintiffs were Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ekiti, Ondo, Katsina, Ogun, Cross-river, Lagos and Sokoto states.
They claimed that by varying the order of the supreme court, the president has caused an “embarrassing dilemma as to which directives and order should be complied with between the order of the Supreme Court and the counter-directive of the first defendant, which was issued later in time.”
Referencing the substantive suit which began on February 08, 2023, which is currently before the court with an interim injunction to the effect that the old N200, N500, N1,000 notes, the plaintiffs said that all the naira notes remained legal tender in Nigeria pending the determination of the motion on notice.
They further stated that the interim order of the Supreme Court was reaffirmed on February 15, 2023.
“Contrary to the order of this honourable court, the substantive first defendant through the president of the Federation and its agent, the Central Bank of Nigeri have repeatedly released statements that the old naira notes are no longer legal tender, hence resulting in misleading the general public on what the status quo to be complied with, pendente lite should be.
“…the first defendant decided to openly flout the orders of the Honorable court on Thursday, the 16th of February 2023 when the President delivered a special and presidential media broadcast, during which the President openly and publicly varied the order of the court by directing that all the old Naira notes excluding the old N200 were no longer legal tender and same would not be accepted except by the Central Bank of Nigeria, at its branches or designated points.”