Presidency clarifies position of Buhari, CBN on Supreme Court order over naira swap deadline
The Presidency has clarified the position of the Federal Government, stating that President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will decide whether to obey any ruling by the apex bank. The Supreme Court will convene on Wednesday to rule on the substantive suit filed by some Nigerian governors regarding the CBN’s cash swap policy.
The Presidency stated that the “position of the government and the CBN will be made public upon the determination of the litigation” in a statement released on Tuesday evening by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.
Given that the Supreme Court case is still pending, we want to clarify that it is untrue that the federal government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, have taken any preemptive action regarding the legitimacy of cash as legal tender.
Upon the outcome of the lawsuit, which will be decided tomorrow (today), the position of the government and the CBN will be made clear.
The Presidency further asserted that because the CBN was not a party to the summons lawsuit in the first place, it had no reason to disobey a temporary order issued by the Supreme Court to stop the deadline for the continued use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes as legal cash.
