The federal government of Nigeria has said it would obey the ruling of the Supreme Court, suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline for the naira swap exercise mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was made known by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, during his appearance on AriseTV on Thursday. But the AGF said the federal government is taking necessary steps to ensure that the Supreme Court’s interim order is set aside.
He disclosed that the federal government, in regard to rule of law, will obey the Supreme Court’s order while working out modalities within the provisions of law to challenge the lawsuit that resulted in the order.
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The Minister called the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to handle the case into question. He said that the singular fact that the CBN was not joined as a party in the suit robbed the apex court of necessary jurisdiction. He said the federal government will be challenging the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to handle the case next week Wednesday, and also will fight to vacate the interim order.
On Wednesday, a seven-member panel of the apex court presided by Justice John Okoro, suspended the February 10 deadline, pending the determination of an ex parte application brought by three northern states; Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara, challenging the CBN’s policy. The hearing is billed to hold on Wednesday, February 15.
The three states had asked the Supreme Court to quash the CBN’s implementation of the February 10 deadline, set to phase out the old naira notes. The federal government had, late last year, unveiled redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, setting a January 31 deadline for the old notes to be returned to the banks. The deadline was later extended to February 10.
However, the implementation of the currency swap has been marred by the insufficiency of the redesigned naira notes, unleashing economic hardship as cash scarcity undermines economic activities. The three states, in their argument, said in addition to the suffering the currency swap has caused, the federal government did not give adequate period of time for the implementation of the policy and that the CBN did not follow laid down procedure.
However, the Supreme Court’s restraining order has been criticized by many legal practitioners, with some asking the federal government to ignore it and go ahead to enforce the February 10 deadline.
Malami, clearing the confusion that has trailed the apex court’s ruling, said the federal government will abide by the order until Wednesday next week when it will challenge the lawsuit brought by three states.
“I think what we are talking about is not whether the ruling is binding or not binding, we are talking about what we intend to do, there is no doubt about the fact that the ruling of the Supreme Court, regardless of the prevailing circumstances, is binding and then within the context of the rule of law.
“And what we are doing in essence is in compliance with the rule of law both in terms of obedience to the ruling and in terms of challenging the ruling by way of putting across our own side of the story, putting across our case, challenging jurisdiction.
“So the issue of obedience to the ruling of the Supreme Court is out of it. We are wholeheartedly in agreement that naturally, we are bound by it and will comply accordingly. But within the context of compliance, we shall challenge the ruling by way of filing an application seeking for it to be set aside, it is all about the rule of law,” he said.
Malami added that the federal government will challenge the Jurisdiction on the grounds that when you talk of monetary policy, regardless of the characters they take, the central bank is an indispensable and a necessary party for that matter.
“What we have at hand is a situation where the central bank was not joined as a party and if the central bank as an institution was not joined as a party, the position of the law is clear that the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be properly invoked,” he said.
The federal government is arguing that it is the Federal High Court and not the Supreme Court that is vested with the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain this suit.
On Monday, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had ruled against any move to force the CBN to extend the February 10 deadline. The federal government is arguing based on this, that the plaintiffs have no cause of action.
“This suit is an abuse of judicial process. The plaintiffs have no locus standi to institute this action. The plaintiffs have no reasonable cause of action against the defendant,” it said in its response to the lawsuit.