Photo credit: Vanguard.
Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara—have filed an ex parte motion before the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order to stop President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, from continuing the implementation of the naira redesign policy.
The governors are praying for an expedited hearing, that seeks a declaration that the demonetisation policy of the regime is in violation of the extant provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, the Nigerian Constitution and relevant laws.
They also requested the court to declare that the three-month notice issued by the CBN with authorisation of Mr Buhari, wherein the older versions of the denominations will lose their legal tender status is in flagrant violation of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act 2007, which states that reasonable notice must be given.
The move followed the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele’s comment at the Weekend that, the CBN would not extend the deadline from February 10. but would work with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of the process.
Plaintiffs in the motion are the Attorneys General of the three northern states while the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is the only respondent.
The plaintiffs claimed that the Buhari regime failed to fulfill its responsibility to facilitate a seamless transition from the old banknotes to the new currencies.
The governors argued that the latest extension of the deadline for submitting old notes was insufficient to remedy the numerous issues plaguing the policy, citing a severe shortage of new notes in Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara.
According to them, the policy’s short implementation timeline, coupled with its attendant chaos and the misery it is causing Nigerians was unacceptable.
Consequently, they are requesting a declaration from the court that, in light of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act 2007, the Federal Government , acting through the CBN, lacks the authority to set a deadline for accepting and redeeming banknotes issued by the Bank, with the exception of the circumstances described in Section 22(1) of the CBN Act 2007.
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