Ten states including Lagos, Ogun and Kaduna have filed a fresh suit before the Supreme Court asking for the reversal of Buhari’s approval of the recirculation of only N200 which put end to N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender.
The other seven states that filed the suit on Friday are Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Cross River, and Sokoto states.
They argued that President Buhari’s February 16 broadcast which invalidated the continuos circulation of N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender is an unconstitutional “overreach and usurpation of the judicial power” of the Supreme Court as the substantive matter is before the apex court, which on February 8 issued an interim order ex parte that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender in Nigeria pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The lawyers led by A.J. Owonikoko (SAN) argued that the apex court reaffirmed the ex parte order on February 15, adding that the federal government had submitted to the jurisdiction of the court having appeared in the suit, making the matter subjudice.
The five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Inyang Okoro had on February 15 categorised the 10 states opposing the naira redesigning and swap deadline as co-plaintiffs, while those in support, including Bayelsa and Edo states, were categorized as co-defendant states.
The matter is expected to be heard on Wednesday, February 22.
