The government of Ekiti State has joined as a co-plaintiff the suit challenging the Federal Government on the redesign of naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria at the Supreme Court.
The apex court had last week temporarily restrained the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the withdrawal of old naira notes from circulation pending the determination of the suit by the state governments.
Kano, Niger, and Ondo States had also joined as co-plaintiff in the suit.
Yinka Oyebode, the Chief Press Secretary to the Ekiti State governor, confirmed the development in a statement in Ado Ekiti on Sunday.
He said the application for joinder was filed at the Supreme Court by the Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dayo Apata (SAN), on Friday.
In the suit with number SC/CV/162/2023, the Attorneys-General of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara States were listed as plaintiffs with the Attorney-General of the Federation as the defendant.
The government, according to him, is seeking three reliefs on the matter.
The three reliefs being sought by the Attorney General of Ekiti State are: “Leave of this Honourable Court to join the Applicants as a Co-Plaintiff in this suit; An Order of this Court joining Attorney General of Ekiti State as a Co-Plaintiff in this Suit; And for such order or further ordered that this Honourable Court may seem fit to make in this circumstance of this suit.”
READ ALSO: Ekiti Residents Lament Poor Circulation Of New Naira Notes
The Ekiti State AG, is in the application “seeking leave of this honourable court (Supreme Court) to join the Applicants as a Co-Plaintiff in this suit; an Order of this Court joining Attorney General of Ekiti State as a co-Plaintiff in this suit; and for such order or further order that this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in this circumstance of this suit”.
Apata had premised the application on grounds including “acute shortage in the supply of naira notes in Ekiti State since the announcement of the policy by the Federal Government through the CBN.”
The state government also averred that “the directive of the Federal Government of Nigeria had affected the livelihood and had inflicted excruciating pain and hardship on all Nigerians, including citizens of Ekiti State.”
It also averred “that the directive of the FG has also adversely affected the revenue, levies and taxes accruable to the coffers of Ekiti State Government as economic activities in the state are now completely paralysed.”
The state government said, “The directive of the FG on the naira redesign has also created palpable anxiety among the citizens of Ekiti.”
It stated, “Ekiti is a federating state of Nigeria and therefore has an interest in the determination of the Originating Summons in the suit earlier filed by the three states in the federation,” adding that “having a common interest as other plaintiffs and also in the outcome of the suit, sought the leave of the Court to be joined as a co-plaintiff in order to be bound by the outcome of the suit.”
It also stated that no injustice or embarrassment will be occasioned to any of the parties on record if it is joined as a co-plaintiff to ventilate the grievances of Ekiti State.
The state government supported its application with the argument that the apex court had always been of the position that anyone whose presence is crucial and fundamental to a suit must be made a party to the proceedings.
