By Ismail Auwal
Federal Government has that it would obey the ruling of the Supreme Court suspending the February 10 deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN ) on the exchange of naira notes.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in an interview on Arise TV on Thursday, said the government was hopeful that the ex parte ruling which expires on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, would be upturned.
Malami said the CBN, which is a necessary party to the issue, was not joined and that consequently, the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to decide on the matter in the first instance.
The Minister, however, said that the decision of the government to obey the Supreme Court order on the naira deadline was based on the administration’s respect for the rule of law.
He said, “An interim order was granted by the Supreme Court and that order was to lapse on Wednesday (February 15) and incidentally, that was the day the court fixed for hearing of the motion. With the position in mind, we have taken steps to file our objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter. Jurisdiction on the ground that when you talk of monetary policy, Central Bank is an indispensable and necessary party in the matter.
“A situation where the Central Bank is not joined in the matter as a party and if the Central Bank as an institution is not joined as a party, the law is clear that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be invoked. So, we have given consideration to diverse issues, inclusive of the issue of jurisdiction and we will argue it from that perspective. There is no doubt that the ruling of the Supreme Court, regardless of the circumstance, is binding and within the context of the spirit of the rule of law, so the issue of disobedience to the ruling of the Supreme Court is out of it. We agree wholeheartedly that we are bound by it and we will comply by it.”
It could be recalled that the apex court in its ruling on Wednesday, suspended the February 10 deadline on the old naira notes which expires today.
