Supreme Court Yet To Decide On Naira Swap – Ozekhome

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, has said the Supreme Court has not really decided on the deadline of February 10 set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the swapping of old N100, M200, M500 and N1,000 for the newly redesigned ones.

According to him, the apex court only granted time to hear the case that was submitted against the CBN by three states.

Ozekhome, in live appearance on The 2023 Verdict, Channels Television’s special election programme, clarified that the judgement was not a conclusive stance on the CBN’s currency swap policy.

“The Supreme Court has not decided the matter. All it has done is to fall back to a decision like Kotoye v. CBN, that in matters of extreme urgency, you can grant an interim order, even if it be ex parte, to prevent the subject matter of the suit being truncated.

“If, for example, the Supreme Court, did not make that order, and the only order existing is that of the High Court, it means that the CBN, by 10th of this month, will stop the use of all old notes.

“But what the Supreme Court has said is, ‘Just wait, let us listen to you people,’ not that it has decided that Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna states have any valid case that is actionable because the action is already being challenged with a preliminary objection.

“It is another way of saying, ‘Let us first drive away the fox before we blame the fowl for wandering too far into the forest,’” he said