[JUST IN] Supreme Court adjourns hearing on naira crisis

The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned a hearing in the suit banning the use of the old naira to Wednesday, 22nd February 2023.

The three states filed the suit against the Federal Government seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In a new development, nine states have filed to join the suit initially filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.

The states are Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto states bringing the new total of plaintiffs to ten.

On the other hand, Edo and Bayelsa have filed to be joined as respondents.

The seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro ordered them to amend their processes to be heard as one.

Meanwhile, pending hearing, the old order to suspend the ban of the now older 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes subsist.

The PUNCH reports that a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court last Wednesday in a unanimous ruling granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from implementing the CBN’s February 10 deadline for the swapping of the old naira notes with the new ones.

The judgement followed a motion ex-parte on behalf of three northern states Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, who on February 3rd filed a suit seeking to halt the implementation of the CBN’s policy.

On February 8, 2022, The PUNCH reports that Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the President, Major General Muhammadu Buahri (retd.), alongside the CBN and commercial banks from interfering, suspending or extending the terminal date of February 10 for the expiration of the old naira notes.

Before Wednesday’s hearing, The PUNCH reports that the Presidency said that neither the government nor the CBN had taken a stand on the continued use of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes as legal tenders seeing that the case was still pending before the Supreme Court.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the FG would make its position on the new naira policy known after the determination of the suit on Wednesday.

In a response to our correspondent on Tuesday, he said “Following series of enquiries, we wish to state that it is not true that the FG or the CBN has taken a pre-emptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

“We wish to state that it is not true that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN have taken a preemptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

“The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up tomorrow.”