The Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara state governments have filed a lawsuit against the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government before the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The three Northern state governments in a motion ex-parte filed on their behalf by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), prayed the apex court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Nigerian Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the February 10, 2023 timeframe within which the older versions of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes will cease to be legal tender.
Channels TV reports that the plaintiffs in the suit are the three Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the three states, while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is the sole respondent in the suit.
According to the plaintiffs, since the announcement of the new naira note policy, there has been an acute shortage in the supply of the new naira notes in their states, saying that citizens who have deposited their old naira notes have increasingly found it difficult and sometimes next to impossible to access the new naira notes to enable them go about their daily activities.
The three state governments further cited the inadequacy of notice coupled with the haphazard manner in which the exercise is being carried out and the attendant hardship it is causing on Nigerians as their reason for the suit, pointing out that the Nigerian Government has also acknowledged the hardship Nigerians are going through because of the new CBN policy..
They also argued that the 10-day extension by the Nigerian Government is still insufficient to address the challenges bedevilling the policy.
The plaintiffs also filed a motion on notice to abridge the time within which the respondent may file and serve his Counter-Affidavit to the suit and an order for an accelerated hearing of the matter.
In the suit, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the Demonetization Policy of the Federation being currently carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and actual laws on the subject.
They are also asking the court to make a declaration that the three-month notice given by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the expiration of which will render the old banknotes inadmissible as legal tender, is in gross violation of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 which specifies that Reasonable Notice must be given before such a policy.
They further prayed the apex court for a declaration that given the express provisions of Section 20(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has no powers to issue a timeline for the acceptance and redeeming of banknotes issued by the Bank, except as limited by Section 22(1) of the CBN Act 2007. The Central Bank shall at all times redeem its bank notes.
Also, they want the Supreme Court to direct the immediate suspension of the demonetisation of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria under the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria until it complies with the relevant provisions of the law.
Channels TV also reports that in an affidavit filed in support of the suit and sworn to by the Kaduna State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Aisha Dikko, she averred that although the naira redesign policy was introduced to encourage the cashless policy of the Nigerian government, it is not all transactions that can be conveniently carried out through electronic means.
According to Dikko, several transactions still require cash in exchange for goods and services hence the need for the Nigerian Government to have sufficient money available in circulation for the smooth running of the economy.
She noted that the Nigerian Government has embarked on the policy within a narrow and unworkable time frame, and this has adversely affected Nigerian citizens within Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states as well as their governments, especially as the newly redesigned naira notes are not available for use by the people as well as the State Governments.
However, the apex court has not fixed any date for the hearing of the suit.
