Some state governments are planning to initiate contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over their refusal to implement the Supreme Court judgment on the naira redesign policy of the Federal Government.
It was gathered on Friday that the Federal Government was served with the enrolled order and Certified True Copy of last week’s Supreme Court judgment, which also ordered that the old N1,000, N500 and N200 should be in circulation alongside the new notes till December 31, 2023.
It was further gathered that the non-service of the enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment was responsible for the failure of the Federal Government to direct Emefiele to roll out the old notes already withdrawn from circulation.
The silence of the President, Muhammadu Buhari on the judgment of the apex court had fuelled the rejection of the remaining old N1,000 and N500 as legal tender.
On Monday, some banks commenced paying customers the old notes in partial compliance with the Supreme Court judgment but to the consternation of Nigerians, the banks rejected deposits of the 1,000 and 500 notes.
By Wednesday, they stopped disbursing the old notes as the CBN insisted that it had not given any directive to that effect.
The enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment was reportedly served on the AGF on Friday afternoon.
Counsel for Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, who dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court on the matter, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), said that Malami was served with the enrolled order and the CTC of the judgment on Friday afternoon, adding that he expected immediate compliance with the judgment as the non-service of the documents had given the government and the CBN an escape route.
Mustapha said, “The Attorney-General of the Federation has been served now and we will take it up from there; if there is no compliance now, we will commence committal proceedings against the attorney-general and the CBN governor. When the Supreme Court talks, the constitution makes it compulsory for all government representatives and everybody to comply with its order. It’s not discretional, you have to obey, it is the last and the final and that is why we have separation of power.
“The presence of separation of power is for checks and balances; when the Supreme Court talks, it must be complied with by all persons.”
State governors, senior lawyers and other stakeholders had since the judgment was delivered, been calling on Buhari to direct the CBN governor to direct commercial banks to start giving out the old notes alongside the new ones to ease the scarcity of the naira that has crippled the economy and caused untold hardship on the people.