Some State Governors in Nigeria have threatened to file a contempt suit against Abubakar Malami and Godwin Emefiele for their failure to obey the Supreme Court order on the naira redesign policy.
According to Punch Newspaper, the governments have given the duo till Tuesday to comply with the apex court order on the currency.
Recall that the apex court had ordered that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 remain legal tender alongside the new notes till December 31, 2023.
According to reports, Both Malami and Emefiele have been served with the enrolled order and the Certified True Copy of the judgement last week Friday.
The backstory: The CBN had issued a directive that the old N1000, 500 and 200 notes would cease to be used as legal tender from February 10, 2023. Three northern governors approached the supreme court seeking an order to restrain the CBN from banning the use of the old notes.
The supreme court in its ruling temporarily halted the ban on the old naira. however, the President in a live broadcast ordered the reintroduction of only the N200 note until April 10.
Nine other governors also sought to be joined in the suit as co-plaintiffs which was granted by the apex court.
The AGF in a preliminary objection asked the court to dismiss the suit as the plaintiffs did not show any reasonable cause of action against the federal government (the defendant).
The court in its judgement ordered that the N1000, N500 and N200 old notes be used as legal tender alongside the new notes.
Nigerians suffer: Nairametrics had reported how lengthy queues continued at Automated Teller machines across the nation even after the order.
Most Nigerians are awaiting the CBN to give directives in line with the court’s order before they will start accepting the old notes as legal tender.
However, CBN is yet to make any official statement since the court order. But some banks have started paying the old naira note behind the counter and at ATMs.
