The Federal Government through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation AGF, Abubakar Malami has filed an objection against the Supreme Court ruling which halted the February 10 deadline for old Naira Notes to remain in circulation.
After redesigning the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set the deadline for the old Naira notes to continue to be used as legal tender until January 31.
However, the apex bank extended the deadline to February 10 as a result of the challenges in obtaining the newly redesigned notes.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, declared last week that the February 10 deadline will not be extended despite unrest caused by a lack of currency across the nation.
All Progressives Congress (APC)-backed governors who feel that Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, is the target of the CBN policy met with President Muhammadu Buhari earlier this week and requested that the deadline be extended.
The president appealed to Nigerians to give him seven days to decide on the matter.
This was a matter of urgency, the governments of Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara states could not bear they on Tuesday, 7 February 2023 proceed to seek the court’s intervention and possible win against CBN, demanding for extension of the deadline.
Ruling in the matter, a Supreme Court panel led by Justice John Okoro, on Wednesday, 8 February 2023, halted the Federal Government’s move to execute the February 10 deadline.
The AGF, in a preliminary objection filed through his lawyers, Tijanni Gazali and Mahmud Magaji argued that the Supreme Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The AGF contended that the plaintiffs have equally not awn the reasonable cause of action against the defendant.
Ref: Dailypost
