Governors Give Malami, Emefiele Ultimatum to Follow Supreme Court Order

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, have been given until Tuesday to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling on the naira redesign policy after the State Governments sued the Federal Government over the policy.

The state governments threatened to file contempt charges against the two top officials on Tuesday should they fail to obey the apex court which ordered that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 should be in circulation alongside the new notes till December 31, 2023.

Over one week after the court handed down the order, the AGF and the CBN have kept mum over the verdict. Their silence has emboldened Nigerians and businesses to reject the old notes as legal tender.

Saturday PUNCH reported on Friday that the Federal Government had been served with the enrolled order and Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment ordering the use of old notes as legal tender for 10 months.

The counsel for Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, which dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court on the matter, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), disclosed that Malami was served with the enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment on Friday afternoon, adding that he expected immediate compliance with the judgment as the non-service of the documents had given the government and the CBN an escape route.

Mustapha said, “The Attorney-General of the Federation has been served now and we will take it up from there; if there is no compliance now, we will commence committal proceedings against the attorney-general and the CBN governor.”

But giving an update on the move to enforce compliance with the order of the apex court on Sunday, the Zamfara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Junaidu Aminu, revealed that since the Federal Government had refused to implement the judgment, the plaintiffs in the suit would approach the court again to ensure compliance with the court’s order.