Naira unavailability: Three Northern States are suing Buhari to Supreme court
The Supreme Court has been petitioned by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara for a restraining order to prevent the full implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) naira redesign program.
The action comes in response to the chaos and struggles Nigerians face as they try to fulfill the deadline for the new currency exchange.
The Northern States urged the Supreme Court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Nigerian Government from carrying out its plan to end the timeframe within which the now-outdated currencies of 200, 500, and 1000 denomination will cease to be legal tender in a motion ex-parte filed on their behalf by their attorney, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN).
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is the only respondent in the case. The three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara are the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs alleged that there has been a severe shortage of new naira notes in the three states since the announcement of the new policy, and that citizens who have dutifully deposited their old naira notes are finding it harder and sometimes impossible to obtain new naira notes to carry out their daily activities.
Additionally, they emphasized that the Federal Government’s 10-day extension is still insufficient to address the problems plaguing the scheme.
However, a time for the lawsuit’s hearing has not yet been set.
Recall that the CBN had already announced a delay in the completion of the switchover to the new naira notes.
In a news release issued last week, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele announced the ten-day extension of the deadline.
Emefiele claims that the revised cutoff date is now February 10, 2023.
