Last updated on October 10th, 2023 at 12:14 pm

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Nigeria issued an order to temporarily prevent CBN’s deadline of old naira notes as planned for February 10th, 2023.

In an exparte application brought forth by three states in the northern region- Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, Justice John Okoro and his seven-member panel ruled to put a halt to the federal government’s plan.

On February 10th, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced a deadline for a currency swap exchange.

This timeline caused Governors Nasir El-Rufai from Kaduna, Yahaya Bello from Kogi, and Bello Matawalle from Zamfara to dispute with 14 political parties who threatened to not participate in the February 25th election if the CBN extended the time limit.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has recently issued an injunction barring President Muhammadu Buhari, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, and 27 commercial banks from suspending, stopping, extending or interfering in any way with the currency swap agreement’s terminal date.

On Monday, a ruling was issued by Justice E. Enenche in response to an appeal submitted by four political parties.

The three governors who sought to challenge the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) and Federal Government’s Naira redesign policy in the Supreme Court were putting forth a call for suspending its full implementation.

This policy initiative was launched by the CBN.

On Wednesday, Mr A.I. Mustapha, SAN representing the applicants pleaded with the court to grant the application out of fairness and for the benefit of Nigerians.

He warned that the current policy had caused “unbearable chaos and was dangerously close to unleashing anarchy”.

After analyzing the exparte motion carefully, Justice Okoro decided to grant the application.

On February 10, 2023, Justice Okoro mandated that an Interim Injunction be put in place.

This permanently prevents any government entity, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or commercial banks from halting the use of 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes.

As a result, these paper denominations will continue to remain legal tender until the outcome is decided for their Notice of Motion for Interlocutory Injunction.

The judge, however, set a new hearing for February 15, 2023 to consider the main lawsuit.