The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the old N200, N500, N1000 notes should continue to co-exist with the new notes till further notice.
It was gathered that the apex court ruled that both old and new notes should continue to remain legal tender until the Federal Government put a process in place for its replacement or redesign.
After hearing an application that was moved on behalf of the President Bola Ahmed’s led administration, by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Recall that the court had earlier nullified on March 3 the ban on the use of the old banknotes as valid legal tenders by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
READ MORE: All Banknotes Legal, Don’t Reject Old Naira — CBN
The court held that the old Naira notes should be used alongside the redesigned currencies until the end of the year.
In its lead judgement that was prepared and delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court slammed the FG for unilaterally introducing the demonitization policy through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, without consulting the Council of States, the Federal Executive Council, the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, Civil Society Organizations and other relevant stakeholders.
It held that the FG failed to give valid notice to all the federating units before it decided to withdraw the old banknotes from circulation and introduce new ones.
The Supreme Court maintained that evidence before it established that a purported notice on the monetary policy was through “mere press remarks” by governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
It held that such remarks did not qualify as “reasonable notice” to the states as envisaged under section 20(3) of the CBN Act.
