The Supreme Court has adjourned the judgement of the new naira policy suit to March 3, 2023.
The seven-member panel of the apex court communicated the decision on Wednesday.
Justice John Inyang Okoro fixed the date after taking arguments for and against the suit by some States of the Federation.
Six more states — Rivers, Kano, Niger, Jigawa, Nasarawa, and Abia — joined the suit when it came up for hearing, making a total of 16 states.
The suit was initiated by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara before the supreme court.
Subsequently, several states approached the apex court to be joined in the suit.
Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Lagos, and Sokoto states were among the first batch to be joined as co-plaintiffs, while Edo and Bayelsa states joined the AGF as defendants.
The states are arguing that the implementation of the policy has caused untold hardship for Nigerians.
The Naira redesign policy has been causing untold hardship on Nigerians, leading to series of protests and burning of banks in some parts of the federation.
The CBN still insisted on the February 10 deadline and had stopped banks from collecting old the N500 and N1,000 notes despite the apex court’s order restraining it from carrying out the move.
Everyone thought reprieve has come the way of the masses when the Supreme Court granted an interim injunction to allow the old naira notes to be in circulation pending the determination of the case filed by some governors against the obnoxious policy of the apex bank.
The Supreme Court had in a ruling on 8 February granted an interim injunction that the CBN and the federal government should suspend the implementation of the February10 deadline for the expiration of the legal tender status of the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.
On 15 February the apex court affirmed the ruling. This, it said, should be pending until the hearing and determination of a suit before it slated for February 22.
In a surprise move President Buhari on 16 February, in a broadcast announced that only the old N200 note would remain valid until April 10. He said old N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender.
The broadcast had been heavily criticised and condemned by lawyers and many of the 21 governors of the APC. Many expressed outrage that the President could openly defy the apex court in a democracy.
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