The Presidency has stated that because the Supreme Court would hear the case today, neither the Federal Government nor the Central Bank of Nigeria have taken a position on the continued use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes as lawful cash (Wednesday).
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.
After conducting many inquiries, he responded to our correspondent on Tuesday, saying, “Following series of enquiries, we desire to state that it is not true that the FG or the CBN has taken a pre-emptive step on the legality of money 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.”
This occurs approximately a week after the Supreme Court decided to postpone the CBN’s deadline of February 10 to stop using old naira notes.
The bank has instructed people to trade in their old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes for newly created versions of the identical notes.
However, the CBN was prevented from enforcing its ban on the old notes until the issue was heard and decided on February 15 by the Supreme Court in response to an ex parte motion filed by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara.