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The Governors of Kaduna, Ogun, and Lagos alongside seven other states have approached the Supreme Court to abrogate the insistence of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Government on continuing the implementation of the cash swap policy against the existing court pronouncement.
This action of the governors becomes the latest in efforts to salvage the country’s constitutional order and respect for the rule of law as it continues to dwindle under the highhanded Muhammadu Buhari regime.
In the suit marked SC/CV/162/2023, the plaintiffs through their counsel, A.J. Owonikoko, are praying the apex court to declare that Mr Buhari’s state address, which aired last Thursday, is unconstitutional.
In the face of brewing anarchy which has rocked different cities across the country and untold economic hardship for many Nigerians, Mr Buhari disclosed in his address that his regime and the CBN will not rescind its position to take old N1,000 and N500 notes out of circulation.
The president’s statement, according to analysts, was an insult to the country’s highest court and a disregard for the nation’s democratic order.
In a suit brought by state governors against the regime, the Supreme Court earlier ruled that all parties should maintain the status quo until the suit is resolved and that the old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes should remain legal tender.
The suing governors described Mr Buhari’s pronouncement as an “unconstitutional overreach and usurpation of the judicial power.”
“Contrary to the order of the Honourable Court, the substantive 1st defendant through the President of the Federation, and its agent, the Central Bank of Nigeria, have repeatedly released statements that the old Naira Notes are no longer legal tender, hence resulting in misleading the general public on what the status quo to be complied with, pendente lite, should be,” the suit read.
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