There are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have concluded plans to abide by the Supreme Court judgement ordering it to allow old naira notes as legal tender till December 31, 2023.
This followed a meeting held between the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and leadership of the commercial banks on Sunday.
It was gathered that the CBN met with the Managing Directors of the commercial banks on Sunday through a virtual meeting at about 4.00pm, to address the old naira notes menace.
An online medium, PENPUSHING disclosed that the focus of the meeting was to direct the commercial banks on need to start accepting and dispensing the naira notes in line with the Supreme Court judgement.
It was gathered that following the development, the leadership of CBN in the next few days address a press conference to clear the air on the controversy, and to avoid contempt of court.
The ugly situation has continued to give sleepless night to Nigerians, having being subjected to mental torture by the CBN policy on the naira swap, a development which has led them to cash crunch positions.
It was gathered that it is recalled that a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro has extended the validity of the N200, N500, and N1, 000 notes for next ten months which is to last till 31 December, 2023, and unanimously directed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians.
The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation is invalid, while a member of the panel, Justice Emmanuel Agim who read the lead judgement, equally condemned the President’s disobedience of the court’s 8 February order that the old N200, N500, and N1, 000 notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones.
The panel pointed out that the president’s broadcast of 16 February that only N200 notes should remain legal tender made Nigeria’s democracy look like a mere pretension while democracy is replaced with autocracy.
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