Governors to S’Court: Stop CBN’s naira swap deadline
The raging storm over the naira redesign and scarcity has moved to the courtrooms.
Three states – Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara – have urged the Supreme Court to suspend the policy immediately.
They said it was doing more harm to the economy and livelihoods than envisaged.
Just as the governors were filing their case, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) issued an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government from extending the February 10 deadline for the phaseout of the old naira notes. The court ruled on an application by four political parties – Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and National Rescue Movement (NRM). Outside the courts, Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje accused Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emeifiele of punishing Nigerians after failing to secure the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor spoke a day after former APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole accused Emefiele of plotting to scuttle this month’s elections.
The former Edo governor was of the opinion that the CBN governor wanted to discredit the party.
Nigerians have been groaning amid the scarcity of old and new notes.
There were long queues in banking halls and Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) as the cash crunch bit harder yesterday.
The banks, through their spokesman, had denied hoarding the cash. But, the situation got worse yesterday as many ATMs remained empty and banks turned weary customers away.
Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Godwin Obaseki (Edo) met with bank chiefs in their states in a bid to find a solution.
Also yesterday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested a bank manager in Abuja for hoarding N29 million worth of new naira notes.
The agency said: “An operations manager of a leading commercial bank in Abuja Central Area was on Monday arrested by operatives for refusing to load the ATMs, despite having N29 million of the redesigned naira notes in the branch’s vaults.” Nation
