Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) says the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is flouting the interim injunction of the Supreme Court suspending the implementation of the February 10 deadline on the use of the old naira notes.
Nigerians have had difficulties accessing new naira notes following the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in November 2022.
The Central Bank of Nigeria gave an initial January 31 deadline but later extended it to February 10 for Nigerians to exchange their old naira notes.
However, an interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court on February 8 restrained the CBN from carrying out the implementation.
But speaking on a live appearance on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Tuesday, Falana said the government was not ready to comply with the order.
“In a country where the rule of law operates, once the Supreme Court has determined a matter or given an order, it is expected that all and sundry – everybody – will comply with the order,” he said.
“[A] statement was credited to the Central Bank that since it was not a party to the case, it’s not going to comply with the order. I thought that could only happen in a banana republic.
“I expected the Central Bank to have issued a statement following the order of the Supreme Court: ‘all actions are stale until the 15th of February.’”
He said the law will be invoked to deal with those who are deliberately flouting the orders of the court and sabotaging the rule of law in Nigeria.
“For me, an example has to be made this time around, so that nobody will feel that he’s above the law in our country,” he added.
