An elder statement and senior lawyer, Robert Clarke has stated that the Supreme Court of
Nigeria acted rightly for halting the deadline attached to the submission of the old naira
notes. Speaking on Arise TV in an interview, monitored by The News Chronicle, the senior lawyer
noted that he has also been a victim of the policy.
The News Chronicle earlier reported that the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a
suspension of the deadline for the swapping of old to new Naira notes by the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
The interim injunction was given to restrain the Federal Government from suspending the
acceptance of the old Naira notes on Friday, February 10, 2023, deadline.
It could be recalled that Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kogi State on Monday instituted a suit
against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court over the scarcity of old and new
Naira notes due to the CBN naira redesign policy.
Subsequently, a 7-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a
unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction restraining the FG, CBN, commercial banks
etc, from implementing the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes
to stop being a legal tender.
Speaking further on the issue among other prevailing challenges facing Nigeria, Robert
Clarke noted that the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to sit on the matter, dismissing an
insinuation that the Supreme Court is tampering with the independence of the apex bank.
While noting that he bought N100,000 with N125,000, he, therefore, advised the apex bank
to review the policy with a view to ameliorating the challenges associated with it particularly,
naira scarcity and currency trading.
