Ten states have asked the supreme court to declare the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari on the naira swap policy as unconstitutional.
On Thursday, Buhari said he directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to recirculate only the old N200 notes.
This is in spite of the ruling of the apex court that old N200, N500, and N1000 notes are still legal tender.
The motion in the suit marked SC/CV/162/2023 was filed by the attorney-generals of Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Lagos, and Sokoto states.
It has the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), the attorney-general of Edo, and Bayelsa states as defendants.
The relief sought by the applicants reads: “An order setting aside the directive contained in the special and presidential media Broadcast delivered on Thursday, the 16th of February, 2023 by the president of the federal republic of Nigeria (the substantive 1st defendant in this suit) for being an unconstitutional overreach and usurpation of the judicial power of this court on a matter constituting the subject matter of the pending suit herein; and in respect whereof there subsists an order of interim injunction binding on all parties inclusive of the president who is a party through the named nominal defendant in person of the 1st defendant as the chief legal officer of the federation.”
They asked the apex court to include any other order it may deem fit in the circumstance.
In the grounds for the application, the states argued that despite the subsisting order, the apex bank has repeatedly said the old notes are no longer legal tender.
“Contrary to the order of the honourable court, the substantive 1st defendant through the president of the federation, and its agent, the Central Bank of Nigeria, have repeatedly released statements that the old Naira Notes are no longer legal tender, hence resulting in misleading the general public on what the status quo to be complied with, pendente lite, should be,” it reads in part.