On Wednesday, the Supreme Court, yet again, adjourned the ex-parte case brought against the federal government of Nigeria by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.

This came after the apex court, on February 8, granted an interim injunction restraining the federal government from acting on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s February 10 deadline for the use of old 200 naira, 500 naira, and 1,000 naira banknotes.

Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said, on Tuesday, that the old naira notes had ceased to be legal tender since Friday.

He disclosed this while discussing the apex bank’s currency redesign policy during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The CBN had extended its earlier set January 31 deadline for the use of old naira notes to February 5, and later to February 10.

Emefiele said that “the situation is substantially calming down since the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements and the use of super-agents”.

He added that “there is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10”.

The apex bank governor’s statement is in disregard of the Supreme Court’s interim injunction suspending the CBN’s February 10 deadline, but some lawyers think no offence was committed.

The CBN, according to O.O. Nwani, Chairman of Pegasus Legal, was not a party to the Supreme Court’s ruling. “Once you are not a party to a suit,” he said, “the ruling is not binding on you.”

Nwani told FIJ that he was not surprised by Emefiele’s decision. The All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government has a penchant for disobeying court orders, according to Nwani, how much more one that is not binding on it.

He further stated that Section 232 of the 1999 Constitution clearly defined the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction and that the court’s ex parte ruling was not one of those justifications.

Citing Section 20(3) of the CBN Act, Nwani said that the CBN was the autonomous body to decide on issues relating to Nigeria’s currency.

Confirming Nwani’s position, Leke Oyeniran, lawyer and founder of Learned Library Nigeria Ltd., told FIJ that “Emefiele did not run fowl of the Supreme Court’s decision because the CBN was not a party to the case”.

According to Oyenira, the position of the law is clear in that if you are not a party to a proceeding, you cannot be bound by its orders.

“If anybody breached the decision, it is the federal government and federal government has nothing to do with CBN duties,” he added.

According to Oyeniran, the CBN cash policy case does not fall within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court but the Federal High Court.

He said the order was not binding on the CBN as the apex bank was not a ministry under the federal government but an established statutory body with a governor and mode of operation.

https://fij.ng/article/lawyers-say-cbn-did-no-wrong-by-ignoring-supreme-court-order/

Nlfpmod
Mynd44

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Supreme Court has misfired...APC vote buyers should go back to their campaign grounds.

No vote buying again

Apart from the disgruntled noise of disgruntled politicians, this change of currency will go on smoothly with minimal disturbance

All we want is our money. APC vs APC no concern me