The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has categorically stated that President Muhammad Buhari's decision to extend the validity of old N200 notes as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes for 60 days was not in contravention of the Supreme Court order.
He made this declaration while answering questions from State House reporters during the Presidential Communications Team Media Briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Supreme Court had issued an order suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the old naira notes until the case against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the naira redesign policy is determined on March 3, 2023.
This followed an earlier order to commercial banks and other financial institutions to continue transacting with the old notes.
President Buhari had, on February 16, addressed citizens amid protests over the scarcity of cash caused by the currency redesign policy, allowing only old N200 notes to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes.
This move, however, did not meet the demands of the APC governors who had asked for an adequate injection of the new notes and the continued utilisation of all old ones until the end of the year.
Consequently, more governors have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision of the Federal Government.
When asked whether the federal government was in breach of the Supreme Court order after the presidential directive on the matter, Malami said: “Your question can best be answered within the context of what constitutes a rule of law in the Nigerian situation, where an order is made by a court, you have multiple options, but let me state before even addressing the issue of the options available at our disposal as a government.
“The fact, clearly, that we are not a breach of any order made by the court, inclusive of any order associated with the naira redesign. We are not in breach. I believe I’m not a banker, but you have not gone to establish which bank is it that you have gone to present a N1000 or N500 notes that have been rejected. So we are not breached.
“But then, assuming we are in breach, the fact remains that this matter is sub-judice, as you rightly know. It’s being contested before the Supreme Court and when an order is made, you have multiple options within the context of the rule of law.
“One, you are entitled as a matter of right, if the facts and evidence support your position, to apply for setting it aside. The position of the law, and legal jurisprudence is clear, once you are attacking and you seeking a setting aside of an existing order of the court, cannot be said to be operating in breach when you presented your application for setting aside.
“If the court is not an apex court, you equally have a right of appeal and support the right of appeal with an application for a stay, of execution order. So the bottom line of what I’m trying to state is if the matter is sub-judice and within the context of the rule of law, we are doing the needful as a government, in terms of ensuring that the right of the government, within the context of the naira redesign, is being protected. So we are not in breach.”