Ten states have petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to outlaw the old N500 and N1,000 notes and to deem the President’s Thursday broadcast instructions illegal.
The Attorneys General (AGs) of Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Sokoto, and Lagos states are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit with the case number SC/CV/162/2023, which was filed on Friday by their attorney, A.J. Owonikoko (SAN). The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as well as the AGs of Bayels
As the Supreme Court is already hearing the issue, the plaintiffs claimed that Buhari’s orders to prolong the validity of old N200 notes for 60 days and to prohibit old N500 and N1,000 notes amounted to a “unconstitutional overreach and seizure of judicial jurisdiction.”
The petitioners’ attorney cited Articles 232(1), 6(6)(b), and 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which guarantee that all people and authorities must obey the Supreme Court’s rulings and defend its dignity.
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“Contrary to the order of the Honourable Court, the substantive 1st defendant through the President of the Federation, and its agent, the Central Bank of Nigeria, have repeatedly released statements that the old Naira Notes are no longer legal tender, hence resulting in misleading the general public on what the status quo to be complied with, pendente lite, should be,” the relief partly read.