*Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, frowns on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s purported disobedience to Supreme Court interim ruling on old Naira notes, saying the law would be ‘invoked to deal with those who are deliberately flouting the orders of the court and sabotaging the rule of law’ 

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of the current cash crunch cum fuel scarcity in the economy, Mr. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of flouting the Supreme Court interim order suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the use of the old banknotes.

The legal luminary and human rights lawyer, who featured in a Channels TV programme Tuesday, February 14, 2023, said the Federal Government was not ready to comply with the Supreme Court order.

He stated: “In a country where the rule of law operates, once the Supreme Court has determined a matter or given an order, it is expected that all and sundry – everybody – will comply with the order.

“A statement was credited to the Central Bank, that since it was not a party to the case, it’s not going to comply with the order.

“I thought that could only happen in a banana republic.”

Falana also noted: “I expected the Central Bank to have issued a statement, following the order of the Supreme Court: ‘all actions are stale until the 15th of February.’ ”

What’s next?

The Lagos lawyer said the law would be invoked to deal with those who are deliberately flouting the orders of the court and sabotaging the rule of law in Nigeria.

“For me, an example has to be made this time around, so that nobody will feel that he’s above the law in our country,” he stated.

Recall that following the redesigning and launch of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in November 2022, Nigerian consumers had trooped to various banks to deposit their old currencies in line with the initial January 31 deadline, which the apex bank later extended to February 10.

However, an interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court February 8 restrained the CBN from carrying out the implementation.

CBN’s position on legality of old banknotes in circulation

ConsumerConnect reports that in regard to the Naira scarcity legality or otherwise of the old notes as a legal tender in the West African country, Haladu Idris Andaza, Branch Controller of CBN Branch, in Bauchi,  Bauchi State, Monday, February 13, 2023, had told reporters at the CBN Branch, in Bauchi that “for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically, that CBN is ready and is opened to receive all of those old notes based on certain conditions and criteria.”

Andaza said: “Customers are free to come to the Bank and deposit which they cannot do at the commercial banks anymore because the currency has ceased to be a legal tender since the 10th of this month.

“Consequently, the Management of the CBN decided that those customers will have a sigh of relief by coming to the offices of the CBN in all the 36 states in the Federation including FCT to deposit their money.”

The CBN Branch Controller further stated: “The customer has to go to the CBN portal and fill a form in the portal, there will be a form there concerning this currency redesign and exchange.

“After filling the form, you generate a code, you either print it or come with it in your mobile phone, give us the code and the information contained therein.”[do_widget id=heateor_sss_sharing