State governments have given an ultimatum to two top officials. The officials involved are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele. Also, the state governments threatened to file contempt charges against them if, until Tuesday, they refused to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has ordered that the old N1,000, N500, and N200 should remain in circulation alongside the new notes until December 31, 2023.
The CBN and AGF have been silent for over a week since the court passed its verdict. Furthermore, as a result of their silence, most Nigerians have refused to accept the old money as legal tender.
Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states have dragged the federal government before the Supreme Court on this matter. The counsel for the states, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), said that Malami has been given the order and Certified True Copy of the court’s judgement. Malami was served these documents on Friday. His disobedience cannot be termed ignorance because he’s now aware of the Supreme Court’s verdict.
States against FG
Mustapha said, “The Attorney-General of the Federation has been served now, and we will take it up from there.” Equally important, if there is no compliance, the states will commence committal proceedings against the officials. They would approach the court again to ensure compliance with the court’s order.
The states have given the federal government until Tuesday to respect the court’s decision. If no move is made by Monday, the case will be filed on Tuesday.
Next, the Attorney-General insists that Emefiele address Nigerians on the naira note issue. This should be done before Tuesday, as most Nigerians and commercial banks are waiting for his statement. Failure to do so would attract contempt charges against him and the federal government.
Again, the Zamfara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Junaidu Aminu, said something noteworthy. He said that the Attorney-General, Malami, is the one to direct the CBN to obey the Supreme Court’s order. CBN should allow the old notes to coexist with the new ones as legal tender until December 31.This is because the CBN governor is a civil servant and will obey the federal government.
Lastly, Ekiti and Cross River States say that they will align with other parties to ensure that the court’s ruling is followed.