15th February, 2023
By Ebere Agozie
There was drama on Wednesday as the Supreme Court began hearing of the suites filed by some state government against the cash swap and cashless policies of Federal Government as being implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Wednesday.
The drama followed application by some states to join the suits either to stop the implementation of the policy or to support the CBN to continue with the implementation of the naira redesign and cashless policies.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, Edo and Bayelsa States announced that they are supporting the Federal Government in the implementation of the cashless/naira redesign policy.
Counsels to the two states told the panel of seven-man Justices of the apex court led by Justice Inyang Okoro that they are in support of the cashless policy regime and sought to be joined as respondents.
However, six other states, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto joined their counterparts, Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara in the legal battle against the Federal Government.
The six states in their respective motions for joinder pitched their tents with the three aggrieved states that initially ignited the legal battle.
Their joinder motion was moved by Mr Samuel Ologunorisa SAN and was granted by Justice Okoro who presided over the matter.
The Court directed the plaintiffs to amend their originating summons to reflect the name of the six fresh plaintiffs.
But in another drama, River said it has filed a separate suit against the Federal Government on the same matter.
Counsel to Rivers State Government, Emmanuel Ukala insisted that he will not team up with other states adding that it would prefer to do its case separately.
The Supreme Court fixes Feb.22 for the hearing of the suites after directing all parties involved to amend their processes to reflect the new position of their respective cases.
The Supreme Court had last Wednesday temporarily stopped the withdrawal of old Naira Notes from Feb. 10.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, halted the move in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara.
The three states had specifically applied for an order of Interim Injunction restraining “the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on Feb. 10, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.
Delivering ruling in the motion, Okoro, held that after a careful consideration of the motion exparte this application is granted as prayed.
“An order of Interim Injunction restraining the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on Feb. 10,, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denomination of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.
He accordingly adjourned until Feb. 15, for hearing of the main suit.
Moving the application on Wednesday, counsel to the applicants, Mr A. I. Mustapha, SAN, urged the apex court to grant the application in the interest of justice and the well-being of Nigeria.
He stated that the policy of the government has led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land “.
While he referred to a Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) statistics which put the number of people who don’t have bank accounts at over 60 percent, Mustapha lamented that the few Nigerians with bank accounts can’t even access their monies from the bank as a result of the policy.
The senior lawyer further argued that unless the Supreme Court intervenes the situation will lead to anarchy because most banks are already closing operations. (NAN)