The Supreme Court has restrained the Federal Government from implementing the February 10 Deadline for phasing out the old 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes.
Three northern States, Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, had, in a motion ex-parte filed on February 3rd, prayed the apex court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the FG, CBN, commercial banks etc from implementing the February 10, deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender.
The court further held that the FG, CBN, commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15.
By this ruling, the old Naira notes continue to be legal tenders in Nigeria.
The pandemonium over the February 10 deadline for the validity of three old naira notes assumed another dimension on Monday, as five political parties and three State governments begun legal battles.
With cries by many Nigerians, the apex bank extended the deadline from January 31 to February 10, saying it got the approval of the President. Buhari, on Friday, after a meeting with some APC governors, asked for seven days to make a major decision on the policy.
