On Wednesday, February 8, the federal government asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy (CBN).
The suit, filed by three state governments (Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara), challenges the CBN’s February 10 deadline to end the legal tender status of some newly designed currency notes.
The states requested an injunction to prevent the CBN from discontinuing the use of old currency notes on February 10, as previously announced by the bank.
They cited the hardships caused by the scarcity of the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 bank notes.
According to Premium Times, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, argued that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.
Malami maintained that the case is not a conflict between the federal and state governments, but rather a matter of CBN policy.
As a result, he claims, the suit is ineligible to be heard directly by the Supreme Court.
“This suit has disclosed no dispute that invokes this (Supreme) Court’s original jurisdiction as constitutionally defined,”
Malami said.
According to the AGF, the suit should have been filed in the Federal High Court, as Channels TV reported.
Malami filed his opposition to the suit as a preliminary objection at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.