Breaking: Supreme Court invalidates CBN’s naira swap policy, extends use of old notes

The Supreme Court has declared the new raira redesign and withdrawal by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as invalid.

In unanimous judgment of the apex court read by Emmanuel Agim, the 7 justices ruled that old naira notes shall co-exist with new notes and old notes shall continue to be legal tender until 31st December, 2023.

The panel, led by John Okoro,  directed that the CBN must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians.

It 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.

The justices also 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.

They maintained 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.

Details later…