The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the old naira notes remain legal tender till December 2023.
It faulted the naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), declaring the naira notes swap implementation invalid and an affront to the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgment, held that the preliminary objections by the defendants (the Attorney General of the Federation, Bayelsa and Edo states) are dismissed as the court has the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Citing Section 23(2)1 of the constitution, the court held that the dispute between the Federal Government and states must involve law or facts.
The Guardian reports that the apex court further held that President Muhammadu Buhari in his broadcast admitted that the policy is flawed with a lot of challenges.
The court said the policy has led to some people engaging in trade by barter in this modern age in a bid to survive. It added that the President’s disobedience of the February 8 order, is a sign of dictatorship.
The Supreme Court judgment comes three weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari declared that old 500 and 1000 naira notes have ceased to be legal tenders in Nigeria.
Buhari, however, ordered the CBN to allow the old 200 naira notes and redesigned 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes to coexist.
The president said only the 200 old naira notes will continue to be legal tender till Monday, April 10.
CBN earlier announced that all naira notes will cease to be legal tender from Friday, February 2023.
Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara state governments had sued the Federal Government at the Supreme Court and called for a nullification of the CB deadline. More than 10 states have joined the suit.
The state governments said they are worried about the effects the CBN naira redesign policy is having on the residents of their states.
The states said 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.
According to Channels Television, the court held that the preliminary objections by the defendants (the Attorney General of the Federation, Bayelsa and Edo states) are dismissed as the court has the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
The apex court held that President Buhari breached the Constitution of the Federation in the ways he issued directives for the re-designing of the Naira by the CBN.
Justice Agim further held that the President failed to consult the National Council of States, Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Economic Council (NEC) before directing the CBN to unlawfully introduce new Naira notes.
He held that the unconstitutional use of powers by President Buhari on Naira Re-designing has breached the fundamental rights of the Nigerian citizens in various ways.
The apex court said such use of powers by President Buhari is not permitted under democracy and in a society like the Nigeria.
In the unanimous judgement, the court held that the unlawful use of executive powers by the President, inflicted unprecedented economic hardship on the citizens by denying them ownership of and access to their money.
Sixteen states of the Federation had instituted the suit to challenge the legality or otherwise of the introduction of the policy.
Justice John Inyang Okoro who led a seven-man panel of Justices of the Court had on February 22 had fixed today for the court to make its decision known on the suit.
The 16 states led by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara prayed the apex court to void and set aside the policy on the ground that it is inflicting hardships on innocent Nigerians.
They accused the President of usurping the function of the CBN in the introduction and implementation of the policy and asked that the directive issued by Buhari be voided.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello were in court to witness the judgement on Friday. The two governors were also in court at the last hearing. Also, Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle was in court on Friday.
The CBN had extended the deadline for the swap of old N200, N500, and N1,000 from January 31 to February 10 following complaints by many Nigerians but the Supreme Court, after a suit filed by the states, held that the Federal Government, the CBN, commercial banks must not continue with the February 10 deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue.
However, the President, in a national broadcast, directed the apex bank to release old N200 notes into circulation to co-exist with new N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes for 60 days — by April 10, 2023. He also said old N500 and N1,000 banknotes cease to be legal tender in Nigeria.
There has been a flurry of reactions and stark criticisms against the President’s directive including from governors of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Umar Ganduje (Kano); Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo; and many stalwarts of the ruling APC have openly censured and faulted the President’s directive, arguing that it has no grounds because the case is before the apex court.
Leading Senior Advocates of Nigeria like Femi Falana and Mike Ozekhome have equally faulted the President’s move, saying he cannot overrule the apex court of the land.
Also, three State Governors- Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi have filed another suit against Malami, and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele over contempt of court and their alleged failure to comply with the Supreme Court order on the old naira notes.
