Lawyer to the Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State governments on the old naira notes which the Supreme Court ruled that it should continue to be legal tend, Abdulkareem Mustapha has described the action of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) defying such ruling, as executive lawlessness.
“The (Supreme) Court’s order has been flouted by the government. We are talking of executive lawlessness here. We have filed an affidavit to that effect… We want the court to renew the order for parties to be properly guided.”
Speaking today, February 15, during the proceeding, lawyer Mustapha said that the Federal Government and its agencies have allegedly directed the rejection of the old notes thereby failing to comply with the 8 February court order, Punch reports.
He said that the plaintiff filed a notice of non-compliance with the order of the court order made on 8 February.
“The order has been flouted by the government. We are talking of executive lawlessness here. We have filed an affidavit to that effect… We want the court to renew the order for parties to be properly guided,” he said.
Responding, Justice Okoro asked Mustapha to file a proper application and put forward his complaints, which according to him, would enable the respondent to respond appropriately.
Justice Okoro said that there was no need for a renewal of the court’s order since the order made by the court on 8 February was made pending the determination of the motion for injunctions filed by the plaintiff.
He maintained that the order still subsists since the motion was not yet heard.
In a unanimous ruling, a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court had last week Wednesday, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government of Nigeria from implementing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 10 February deadline for the swapping of the old naira notes with the new ones.
The judgment followed a motion ex-parte on behalf of three northern states Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, who on 3 February filed a suit seeking to halt the implementation of the CBN’s policy.
The Supreme Court, today, February 15, adjourned hearing in the suit banning the use of the old naira to next week Wednesday, 22 February 2023. This is coming after nine governors joined the suit initially filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.
The States are Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto, 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.
