In an effort to delay the Supreme Court ruling on a suit by three state governments against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to phase out the use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes, governors of some states in the country have chosen to continue filing for joinder in the matter.
News About Nigeria understands that the original suit was filed by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states and has since been joined by Ondo, Kano, and Ekiti states, with Rivers state also indicating its readiness to do the same.
Sources at the Federal Ministry of Justice stated that the design of the state governors is to delay the judgment and have the old currency run until after the presidential election, as they want to use the cash for the election. The ministry has yet to receive the certified true copy of the Supreme Court ruling on the currency issue as of close of business on Friday.
At the weekend, governors of the 36 states of the federation met in Abuja and rose with a resolution to direct their Attorneys General to review the suit with a view to consolidating the legal reliefs pursued by the states.
The 36 governors also asked the federal government and the CBN to respect the rule of law and halt the currency restrictions, which they argue are causing an economic crisis.
The Supreme Court suspended the CBN’s February 10 deadline to stop the use of old currency notes in a ruling on February 8.
The bank had ordered citizens to swap the old banknotes for the redesigned currency by the deadline, but the Supreme Court stopped the CBN from banning the old notes pending the hearing and determination of the case. The hearing has been fixed for February 15, News About Nigeria reports.
In a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), the governors made assertions that the CBN was pursuing a currency confiscation program, not the currency exchange policy envisaged under Section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007.
The governors stated that they had yet to observe changes in the financial system despite the Attorney General of the Federation’s promise that the federal government would comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court halting the CBN’s plan to end the use of the old currency notes.
As the February 25, 2023 presidential election approaches, the Catholic Bishops under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have charged Nigerians to resist the practice of vote buying.
The 36 state governors have urged the federal government and the CBN to listen to the voice of reason expressed by Nigerians and other stakeholders before the damage to the economy becomes too great to fix by the next administration.
