On Monday, a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Wuse Zone 2 issued an order to retrain.
The February 10 deadline for the usage of the old N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes cannot be extended or interfered with by President Muhammadu Buhari or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Following an ex-parte application that was submitted to the court by four political parties, the court granted the order.
The Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party, Allied Peoples Movement, and National Rescue Movement are the political parties that are the defendants in the lawsuit with the file number FCT/HC/CV/2234/2023.
27 commercial banks were included as Respondents/Defendants in the case, in addition to President Buhari, the CBN, and its Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
An order of interim injunction is hereby made prohibiting the defendants from suspending, stopping, extending, varying, or interfering with the current termination date of use of the old N200, N500, and N1000 bank note, which is the 10th day of February 2023, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice, according to the court’s ruling, which was delivered by Justice Eleojo Enenche.
The heads of the 4th to 30th defendants, as well as their managing directors and/or alter egos, are required to immediately give justification for why they should not be detained and charged with economic and financial sabotage of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
by an alleged act of hoarding, withholding, failing to pay or disburse the new N200, N500, and N1000 bank notes, which are the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s legal tender to their respective customers, in spite of the 2nd and 3rd Defendants’ supplies of each of these currency notes, resulting in the current currency note in circulation.
While adjourning the case until February 14 for a hearing, the court ordered that the interim orders will be in effect for a preliminary period of seven days.