Supreme Court declares old naira notes legal tender till Dec 31
The Supreme Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital has ordered that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes should remain legal tender till December 31, 2023.
This was decided on Friday following adjournment of the case filed by some state governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
READ ALSO: Supreme Court adjourns ruling on naira redesign case to March
The judgment which was delivered by a seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro unanimously directed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians as against the apex bank’s directive.
To this, the court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation is invalid.
According to Premium Times, Emmanuel Agim, a member of the panel, who read the lead judgement, also condemned the President’s disobedience of the court’s 8 February order that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones.
He said the president’s broadcast of 16 February that only N200 notes should remain legal tender made Nigeria’s democracy look like a mere pretension while democracy is replaced with autocracy.
