Naira redesign policy: El-Rufai reacts to Supreme Court judgement

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says the ruling of the Supreme Court on old naira notes is a victory for Nigerians.

The apex court had on Friday invalidated the naira redesign policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying the timing and implementation were defective.

A seven-member panel of the apex court held that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

Speaking with journalists after the ruling of the apex court on Friday, the Kaduna governor reiterated that the policy was designed to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the elections.

“A full court of seven justices gave a unanimous judgment 7-0 that all our prayers to the court have been accepted. This is a victory for Nigerians,” el-Rufai said.

“But this policy which was designed and targeted at a political party and its candidates has brought hardship on our people, this is why the three of us took the decision to come to the Supreme Court.

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“We are APC members, the president of Nigeria is from the APC, but we disagreed with him on this policy and its implementation and when we tried everything to settle this behind closed doors, we had no option but to come to the Supreme Court.

“We are very grateful to the court for this unanimous decision and the orders it has given to the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that from today to the 31st of December 2023, the old naira notes of all denominations shall continue to circulate with the new naira notes. That is the major decision of the Supreme Court.

“The other decision of the supreme court is that the policy of currency confiscation where you deposit money in the bank and the bank chooses what to give you is unlawful and illegal.

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“Nigerians can go to the bank and collect whatever they have deposited and get on with their lives.

“Those that said we went to the court because of elections are wrong. We went to court because our people in our states are suffering and businesses in our states are coming to a halt, lives are being destroyed, that’s why we went to court.

“We left elections in the hands of God and we all know the result. Although this policy was designed to ensure that we did not give them the essential edge in the elections, we have won.”