By 
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court at Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure the enforcement of its 10 February deadline on the validity of the old naira notes.
The judge, Eleojo Enenche, gave the order on Monday (February 6, 2023) in a ruling on an ex parte application by four opposition political parties.
The four parties – Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and National Rescue Movement (NRM) – in their application alleged that the CBN’s new monetary policy was being sabotaged by Nigerian banks.
They sued President Muhammadu Buhari, the CBN and the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, along with 25 Nigerian banks as defendants.
In a public announcement last week, the CBN governor, Mr Emefiele, extended the deadline for legal tender status of the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes from 31 January to 10 February.
The extension followed a public outcry that greeted the scarcity of the new naira banknotes. The CBN governor announced the extension after meeting with President Buhari, and directed banks to receive the old bank notes even after the deadline.
Court order
Ruling on the opposition parties’ ex parte application on Monday, the judge issued an order restraining the CBN “from suspending or interfering with the currency redesign” deadline of 10 February.
The court also ordered the defendant “not to suspend, stop, extend, vary or interfere with the extant termination date of use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 bank notes being 10 February, 2013 pending the hearing and determination of motion on notice.”
The court similarly ordered the Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of 25 Nigerian banks “to show cause why they shall not be arrested and prosecuted for the economic and financial sabotage of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by their illegal act of hoarding, withholding not paying or distributing the new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes being the legal tender of the Federal Republic of Nigeria… “
On Monday (February 6, 2023) the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), disclosed that it arrested the manager of a commercial bank branch in Abuja for allegedly hoarding the new naira notes.
The anti-graft agency, however, did not reveal the names of the bank and its manager.
The court restraining the CBN and other respondents in the suits from tampering with the deadline would last for seven days, a copy of the order seen by PREMIUM TIMES shows.
The order comes after three states being governed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governors filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the deadline set by the CBN to phase out the old naira notes.
The states – Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara – cited the hardship of many Nigerians who are grappling with the impact of the scarcity of the new naira notes as one of the reasons the CBN policy should be reversed.
Many Nigerians have had to spend long hours on queues to collect their money from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country. Many who cannot access the machines have been paying exorbitantly to be paid by Point on Sale (POS) retailers.
Other top APC members, including the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, have also criticised the CBN policy alleging that it was put together to derail the forthcoming general elections.
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