Supreme Court judgement on old naira notes not conclusive – Ozekhome

Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has given clarification on the Supreme Court judgement which restrains the Federal Government of Nigeria from implementing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira swap policy that was supposed to end the old naira on 10th February 2023.

The Central Bank has issued an ultimatum for the old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes from being recognized as legal tender from Friday, 10th February 2023.

Speaking on the import of the Supreme Court judgement on Channels Television on Wednesday night, Ozekhome said the Supreme Court only halt the implementation and was never decided yet.

The lawyer said the substantive matter was still pending and the apex court only gave the judgement to prevent the subject matter from being truncated and can’t be taken as a decision.

Ozekhome said: “The Supreme Court has not decided the matter. All it has done is fall back to a decision like Kotoye vs CBN, that in matters of extreme urgency, you can grant an interim order, even if it be an ex-parte, to prevent the subject matter of the suit [from] 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 the 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.”