The move of the federal government to ban the legal tending of the old notes of N200, N500, and N1000 from Friday, February 10, has been suspended by the supreme court.
On Wednesday, February 8, Justice John Okoro-led’s 7-member panel stopped the move in an exparte application filed before it by 3 northern states, which include Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi.
The 3 northern states applied for an interim injunction of the order.
The application reads in part:
“the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on February 10, 2023, 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”.
Counsel to the 3 states, A.I Mustapha, urged the apex court while moving the application to consider his plea in the interest of justice and the well-being of Nigeria.
According to Mustapha, the government’s policy has led to an “excruciating situation that is almost leading to anarchy in the land“.
In the application, the counsel to the applicants referred to the statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that put the number of Nigerians who are unbanked to over 60 per cent.
Mustapha further lamented that the few Nigerians that have bank accounts could not access their monies from the bank because of the policy.
