The Supreme Court has fixed March 3 to deliver its judgement on a consolidated suit filed by 16 States to stop the decision of the Federal Government to ban the use of old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes .
In resumed sitting on Wednesday,a seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Inyang Okoro agreed that judgement should be delivered on the matter after all the parties adopted their briefs of arguments.
Justice Okoro expressed dismay with the legal fireworks by the aggrieved States and the Federal Government warning that the court would not allow either of the two to turn the Judiciary to a scapegoat.
“With the way this matter is going, they want to make the judiciary a scapegoat but we can’t allow that.
“We are going to hear everything and take our decision”,
Three northern states- Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara- initially dragged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to the Apex Court over the full implementation of the Naira swap policy by the CBN, but more states applied to join the matter.
At the end of the proceedings on Wednesday, the number of states that declared their interest in the matter had risen to 15.
The states are Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano, Rivers, Nasarawa, Niger, Abia, and Katsina.
Plateau state’s plea to be joined in the suit on Wednesday however suffered setback as it was rejected by the court which asked all other states to await its decision on the matter.
Conversely, two states,Edo and Bayelsa have joined the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, as co – defendants in the matter,
In a related development, Zamfara State has urged the Supreme court to set-aside the broadcast that President Muhammadu Bimuhari made on February 16, wherein he okayed only the old N200 banknote to remain a legal tender till April 10.
The state through its counsel, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, argued that the President’s directive was a direct affront on the interim order of the apex court that restrained FG from proceeding with the full implementation of the disputed monetary policy.
The lawyer prayed the court not to exercise any discretion in favour of FG since it refused to comply with its interim order.
Similarly, the Attorney general of Lagos State , Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, told the court that the case of Lagos was different, saying the new monetary policy by the CBN constrained it from carrying out its statutory obligations
Kano State on its part, told the Supreme Court that it was in possession of a security report that warned that it could face a breakdown of law and order due to hardship its residents are facing following the ban on use of the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes
Its team of lawyers led by Mr. Sanusi Musa, told the court that contrary to provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, President Buhari failed to consult the Federal Executive Council, FEC, before giving approval for the ban on use of the old Naira notes.
“My lord, no meeting was held with members of the FEC to take any decision on the CBN’s demonetization policy.
“Here, we have a situation where the President only took advice from the CBN Governor who is not a member of the FEC. He sidelined members of the FEC and proceeded with the policy.
“The issue was never discussed at the FEC meeting. Infact, even the Minister of Finance had after the policy was announced, publicly stated that she was not aware of it.
“The President unilaterally exercised Executive power in cahoot with the CBN, without recourse to states that are members of the FEC.
“As it stands my lords, we have a security report from Kano state that there may likely be a breach of law and order”, Musa, SAN, added.
He, therefore, prayed the apex court to nullify the Naira swap policy and allow the old banknotes to remain legal tender
On its part, Rivers State has urged the apex court to declare the CBN’s monetary policy as unconstitutional.
Counsel for the state ,Mr Emmanuel Ukala SAN argued that the Constitution made it mandatory that the President must exercise his powers in a manner that would be beneficial to the citizens.
The plaintiffs prayed the court to grant all the reliefs they are seeking against the Federal Government but a team of lawyers on the the side of the Federal Government led by Mr Kanu Agabi SAN prayed the court to dismiss the motion filed by the states.
He argued that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter as only the Federal High Court was the appropriate place for the aggrieved States to ventilate their grievances.
” My lords, the suit cannot be commenced here at the Supreme Court. They are crying in the wrong place. The Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction to entertain this matter”
After listening to the arguments, the Court adjourned until March 3 for judgement.
“
