The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed March 3, 2023 for judgement in the new naira case.
The apex Court in Nigeria had on February 8 restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 deadline for swapping the old naira notes with new ones, but the Central Bank of Nigeria refused to shift the deadline.
The injunction followed a suit filed by Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna state governments against the Attorney-General of the Federation on February 3.
Other states including Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Kano, Sokoto, Ogun and Cross River have also joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.
While taking arguments on Wednesday, counsel for the Federal Government, Kanu Agabi, said the Supreme Court held that all reliefs are rooted in section 20 of the CBN Act.
He therefore averred the Supreme court has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter as the action cannot commence with an Originating Summons.
He also argued that the plaintiffs did not deem it fit to the CBN to court as a respondent despite making reference to the apex bank 32 times in their originating summons and despite the fact that seven of the reliefs sought relate to the CBN.
According to him, Nigerians are already rejecting the old notes way the President’s directive.
By asking Nigerians to deposit their old naira at the CBN designated centres, the president was abiding by the court order and that Buhari is empowered under the constitution to veto any legislation, Agabi told the court.
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