Anxiety as Nigerians await for Supreme Court’s decision on govs’ suit against Naira exchange deadline

As Nigerians wait for the Supreme Court’s decision on a significant lawsuit that the governors of Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi states filed today, there is a palpable sense of dread in the air.

In their respective lawsuits, Bello Matawalle and Yahaya Bello and Nasir El-Rufai are requesting that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Naira swap policy be extended (CBN).

The CBN had established February 10 as the date by which the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes would no longer be accepted as legal tender in Nigeria. The governor of the central bank, Godwin Emefiele, had repeatedly stated that the deadline would not be extended.
The three governors petitioned the Supreme Court to order the CBN to extend the deadline after becoming outraged by the difficulties Nigerians were forced to endure in trying to access their money that had been trapped in banks as a result of the policy.

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The governors of Rivers, Ogun, Kano, Ondo, and Ekiti States later joined the original lawsuit brought by the three governors.
The plaintiffs sought, among other things, “a declaration that the demonetisation policy of the federation was not in compliance with the extant provisions of the constitution and CBN Act, 2007 and actual laws on the subject” in the suit with the case number SC/CV/162/2023, which was filed on February 3.
Along with that, they requested “a declaration that the three-month notice given by the federal government through the CBN under the directive of the president, the expiration of which was expected to render the old banknotes inadmissible as legal tender, was in gross violation of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act 2007, which specifies that reasonable notice must be given before such a policy.”

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Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), swiftly filed an objection to the governors’ lawsuit, arguing that only the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over such matters under Section 251(1)(a)(p)(q) & (r) of the Constitution. This objection challenged the apex court’s jurisdiction to hear the motion.
In anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision today, Nigerians hope that the high court will issue a favorable decision that will lessen the sufferings that the country’s citizens are currently experiencing as a result of the CBN policy.