FRI. 10 FEB, 2023-theGBJournal| The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami said the Federal Government would comply with the order of the Supreme Court for Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend the scheduled deadline for the use of the old N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes until the judgement on the matter is set aside.
The Attorney-General gave the assurance while appearing on Arise TV Thursday, consequently ending the speculation on whether the February 10 deadline for the Naira swap will still stay as earlier determined by the CBN.
The Attorney-General had filed a preliminary objection to challenge the apex court order which was issued after three Northern States governor filed a suit challenging the February 10 deadline set by the CBN.
Malami had faulted the order of the apex court on the premise that the CBN, being a necessary party, was not joined in the suit that was filed by the states, adding that the court lacked the jurisdiction to suspend the February 10 deadline set by the CBN. He however said that the Federal Government would obey the ruling owing to its inclination to the rule of law.
“What we have at hand is a situation where the Central Bank is not joined as a party and if the Central Bank as an institution is not joined as a party the position of the law is clear that the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be properly invoked. Jurisdiction on the grounds that when you talk of monetary policy regardless of the characters they take, the Central Bank is an indispensable and a necessary party for that matter,’’ the AGF argued.
According to Malami, “the order was granted by the Supreme Court and the order was to lapse on Wednesday which is the day of the hearing. With that position in mind, we have taken steps to file an objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.
“So we have given considerations to diverse issues inclusive of the issue of jurisdiction and come Wednesday we will argue the case from that perspective amongst others.’’
He added: “I think what we are talking about is not whether the ruling is binding or not binding, we are talking about what we intend to do. There is no doubt the fact that the ruling of the Supreme Court regardless of the prevalent circumstances is binding and then within the context of the Rule of Law, you can equally take steps that are available to you within the context of the spirit and circumstances of the Rule of Law and what we are doing, in essence, is compliance with the Rule of Law both in terms of obedient to the ruling and in terms of challenging the ruling by way of putting our own side of the story, putting across our case, challenging jurisdiction.
Malami said the FG is wholeheartedly in agreement with the ruling of the Supreme Court and is bound by it and will comply accordingly ”but within the context of compliance we shall challenge the ruling by way of filing an application seeking for it to be set aside, it is all about the rule of Law.”
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