Naira Redesign: Confusion As Supreme Court Adjourn

<h4>Naira Redesign<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria reports that there is confusion and anxiety as Supreme Court have adjourned ruling on the Naira redesign to March 3&comma; 2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nigeria general elections begin February 25&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier today&comma; expectations were high as the Supreme Court was set to hear a consolidated suit on the naira redesign policy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plaintiffs in the suit are the Attorneys General &lpar;AGs&rpar; of Kaduna&comma; Kogi&comma; Zamfara&comma; Ondo&comma; Ekiti&comma; Katsina&comma; Ogun&comma; Cross River&comma; Sokoto&comma; and Lagos states while the defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation&comma; Abubakar Malami &lpar;SAN&rpar;&comma; as well as the AGs of Bayelsa and Edo states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the last hearing on February 15&comma; seven states joined the three initial states as co-plaintiffs&comma; while Edo and Bayelsa states joined the Federal Government as co-defendants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Already&comma; the lawyers of both parties have arrived in court and Nigerians expect a major and definitive decision by the apex court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Central Bank of Nigeria &lpar;CBN&rpar; had extended the deadline for the swap of old N200&comma; N500&comma; and N1&comma;000 from January 31 to February 10 following complaints by many Nigerians but the Supreme Court&comma; after a suit filed by the states&comma; held that the Federal Government&comma; the CBN&comma; commercial banks must not continue with the February 10 deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 22&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; President Muhammadu Buhari&comma; in a national broadcast last Thursday&comma; directed the apex bank to release old N200 notes into circulation to co-exist with new N200&comma; N500 and N1&comma;000 banknotes for 60 days — by April 10&comma; 2023&period; He also said old N500 and N1&comma;000 banknotes cease to be legal tender in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There has been a flurry of reactions and stark criticisms against the President’s directive including from governors of his party&comma; the All Progressives Congress &lpar;APC&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Governors Nasir El-Rufai &lpar;Kaduna&rpar;&comma; Abubakar Badaru &lpar;Jigawa&rpar;&comma; Rotimi Akeredolu &lpar;Ondo&rpar;&comma; Umar Ganduje &lpar;Kano&rpar;&semi; Speaker of the House of Representatives&comma; Femi Gbajabiamila&semi; Minister of State for Labour and Employment&comma; Festus Keyamo&semi; and many stalwarts of the ruling APC have openly censured and faulted the President’s directive&comma; arguing that it has not grounds because the case is before the apex court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Leading Senior Advocates of Nigeria like Femi Falana and Mike Ozekhome have equally faulted the President’s move&comma; saying he cannot overrule the apex court of the land&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; three State Governors- Kaduna&comma; Zamfara and Kogi have filed another suit against Malami&comma; and the CBN Governor&comma; Godwin Emefiele over contempt of court and their alleged failure to comply with the Supreme Court order on the old naira notes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;