The Supreme Court has ruled that all old naira notes will remain legal tender, ditto the new naira notes until December 31 2023.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-rufai disclosed this on Friday while talking to journalists at the Supreme Court, Abuja.
Governor Nasir El-rufai , who was flanked by Governor Bello Mutawalle and Governor Yahaya Bello, said the policy on cash withdrawal limits that was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which had taken effect from January 9, 2023 has been abolished by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court delivered its ruling on the naira redesign policy on Friday.
El-rufai noted that the Supreme Court panel comprising seven justices had in a unanimous decision ruled that all old naira notes will remain legal tender until December 31 2023.
El-rufai also added that though he will no longer be a governor next year , Yahaya Bello and Mutawalle and others may however according to him return to the apex court to seek further extension next year if there is a need to do so.
‘Today is a day of happiness for all Nigerians , the Supreme Court of Nigeria has granted all the reliefs that we have sought in a unanimous decision by seven panel members , all our prayers had been granted.
it is a victory for Nigerians, this policy was designed and targeted at a political party and its candidate and it had brought untold hardships to Nigerians that was why we took a decision to come to the Supreme Court.
We are APC members, the president of Nigeria is an APC member but we disagreed with him on this policy and its implementation and when we tried to settle this behind doors and it failed, we had no option than to come to the Supreme Court, we are grateful to the court for this unanimous decision that from today until 31 December 2023, the old naira notes of all denominations shall continue to circulate and get recognized as legal tender along with the new naira notes that was the major decision.
The other decision is that the policy of currency confiscation where you deposit money in a commercial bank and the bank chooses what to give you is unlawful and illegal and shall end forthwith so, Nigerians can go to the commercial banks and collect whatever they have deposited and get on with their lives
Those that said we went to the court because of the elections were wrong , we went to the court because our people in our respective states are suffering and businesses are coming to a halt and lives are being destroyed we had left elections in the hands of God and we already know the results.
Even though this policy was designed to ensure that we did not win the presidential election, we have won but the policy must go because the Supreme Court has ruled that it was unlawfully conceived’ he said.
It will be recalled that the CBN had on October 26 last year announced that circulation of the newly redesigned N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes would begin on December 15, 2022.
CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele had added that the move was to counter terrorism financing, hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 per cent of monies in circulation were outside the vaults of the commercial banks.
It will also be recalled that the Supreme Court panel comprising seven justices which was headed by Justice John Okoro had on Wednesday, February 8 issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes after the Friday, February 10, 2023 deadline.
The three governors ; El-rufai, Mutawalle and Yahaya had in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3rd by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Mustapha (SAN), prayed the apex court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy.
It will equally be recalled that sequel to the scarcity of naira notes and its concomitant hardships, President Muhammadu Buhari had in his broadcast speech a few days ago, declared that the old 500 and 1,000 naira notes were not legal tender anymore.
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He had urged Nigerians to take necessary steps in respect of the affected old naira notes by visiting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other designated places.
While the 200 old naira note survived and will according to Buhari remain a legal tender 500 and 1,000 old naira notes were left to hang in the balance until the Supreme Court ruling today, Friday, 3 March 2023- Team@orientactualmags.com
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