Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, says the Supreme Court has yet to take a ruled on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy that stipulates a February 10 deadline for old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes.
This comes after a seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling on Wednesday, granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from enforcing the CBN’s ultimatum.
The judgement followed a motion ex-parte on behalf of three northern states – Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara – filed on February 3rd, by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Mustapha (SAN), praying the apex court to halt the CBN naira redesign policy.
But Ozekhome, in live appearance on The 2023 Verdict, Channels Television’s special election programme, clarified that the judgement was not a conclusive stance on the CBN’s currency swap policy.
“The Supreme Court has not decided the matter. All it has done is to fall back to a decision like Kotoye v. CBN, that in matters of extreme urgency, you can grant an interim order, even if it be ex parte, to prevent the subject matter of the suit being truncated.
“If, for example, the Supreme Court, did not make that order, and the only order existing is that of the High Court, it means that the CBN, by 10th of this month, will stop the use of all old notes.
“But what the Supreme Court has said is, ‘Just wait, let us listen to you people,’ not that it has decided that Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna states have any valid case that is actionable because the action is already being challenged with a preliminary objection.
“It is another way of saying, ‘Let us first drive away the fox before we blame the fowl for wandering too far into the forest,’” he said