APC govs hamstring Emefiele, S. Court removes Naira swap deadline
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the imminent deadline for the phase out of old Naira notes from circulation, pulling crucial support from the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to rein in over N4.0 trillion into banks vaults, accelerate government’s cashless policy, tame inflation and hamper vote buying in the upcoming general elections.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, in a ruling in an exparte application brought by three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara halted the move of the Federal Government to stop accepting old Naira notes believed to have been hoarded by politicians for the purpose of vote buying in the imminent polls.
In pressing the court to grant his prayers in a motion ex-parte for interim injunction on behalf of his clients, counsel for the plaintiffs, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), said it was in the interest of the country and to prevent an impending anarchy for the court to grant the order sought.
He said the order should be granted pending the hearing of a motion on notice filed by the three state governments on February 3.
The Supreme Court’s order however came as more banks shut down branches following security and safety breaches by desperate customers seeking cash for transactions; and as security agencies and regulators begin smoking out cash from some of the banks involved in sneaky backstage cash hauls.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had in October announced that it was redesigning the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes. He announced 31 January as the deadline for phase out of the old banknotes. But due to the public outcry trailing the currency scarcity, the CBN had extended the deadline till February 10 to enable money deposit banks supply the market with new notes.
However, the scarcity of new notes has persisted despite claims by the CBN that adequate volumes of cash have been distributed through the money deposit banks across the country.
The Oracle Today reports that commercial banks that have low cash volumes to give customers preferred to close shop after riots broke out in two states of the SouthWest zone of the country over scarcity of petrol and the new naira notes.
Even the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos State had to cancel further campaign rallies on the fear that the large gathering of people might spin into riots.
Meanwhile, desperate customers have continued to besiege few banks after the CBN directed that the new Naira notes be loaded and dispensed via Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and across the counter. And with frustrating long waits and disappointments in most cases, some customers have protested in most bizarre ways including stripping to underwear and mounting on teller counters.
Two political big weights in the presidential race for the February polls, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Tinubu of the APC are sharply divided on the prevailing Naira crunch in the market. While Atiku wants the CBN to press on with its plan for cashless economy, Tinubu complains that cash drain would jeopardize his chances at the polls.
Tinubu’s APC took the demand for extending the currency swap deadline to the Supreme Court where the ruling APC is believed to have strong influence.
In giving ear to a suit filed by three APC-controlled states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave an interim order stopping the CBN from ending the use of old naira notes from 10 February.
The Supreme Court adjourned the case to 15 February.
