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The hearing in the lawsuit seeking to outlaw the usage of the old naira was postponed by the Supreme Court, which was sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, until Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

The three states sued the federal government, requesting a restraining order to prevent the full implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s currency redesign program.

In a recent development, nine states have asked to join the original lawsuit brought by the governments of Kogi, Kaduna, and Zamfara.

The new number of plaintiffs now stands at ten. The states are Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Sokoto.

Edo and Bayelsa, on the other hand, have asked to be added as respondents.

The seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro ordered them to amend their processes to be heard as one.

Meanwhile, pending hearing, the old order to suspend the ban of the now older 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes subsist.

According to reports, a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court’s seven-member panel on last Wednesday issued a temporary injunction preventing the Federal Government from carrying out the CBN’s deadline of February 10 for exchanging the old naira notes for new ones.

The decision was made in response to a request ex-parte filed on behalf of the three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, who had launched a lawsuit on February 3rd to stop the CBN’s policy from taking effect.

On February 8, 2022, it was announced that the Federal High Court in Abuja had barred the CBN, commercial banks, and President Major General Muhammadu Buahri (retired) from interfering with, suspending, or extending the deadline of February 10 for the expiration of the old naira notes.

In light of the ongoing Supreme Court lawsuit, the Presidency was quoted as saying before to Wednesday’s hearing that neither the government nor the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken a position on the continued use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes as legal tender.

Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President for Media and Publicity, stated that following the outcome of the suit on Wednesday, the FG would announce its position on the new naira policy.

He said “Following series of enquiries, we wish to state that it is not true that the FG or the CBN has taken a pre-emptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

“We wish to state that it is not true that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN have taken a preemptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

“The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up tomorrow.”

Despite a Supreme Court judgment prohibiting the apex bank from carrying out the old notes’ February 10 expiration date, the Central Bank of Nigeria has argued that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes are no longer lawful money.

On Monday, Haladu Idris Andaza, the branch controller for CBN in Bauchi, revealed this information to the media.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that CBN is ready and is open to receive all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria. Customers are free to come to the bank and deposit which they cannot do at the commercial banks anymore because the currency has ceased to be a legal tender since the 10th of this month,” Mr Andaza said.

He added that people and organizations with outdated banknotes can deposit them at any of the 36 apex bank branches located throughout the nation.

“The management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the federation including FCT to deposit their money. The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill a form in the portal, there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange,” Mr Andaza said.