Buhari receives CBN Governor, Emefiele in Aso Rock after Supreme court order

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President Muhammadu Buhari has received Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in Aso Rock, Abuja.

This comes just hours after the Supreme Court halted the February 10 deadline for the validity of three old naira notes.

A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous ruling, granted the interim injunction after an ex parte filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara state governments.

The highest court also held that the Federal Government and the apex bank must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of the hearing on February 15.

The outcome of the meeting is yet to be known but the visit by the apex bank chief is in connection to the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) of Nigeria has said that the Supreme Court ruling of Wednesday is designed to enable corrupt politicians to share old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes during the February 25 and March 11 general elections.

“This order is only designed to help politicians in the sharing of old money during elections,” said the group’s National Coordinator, Obed Okwukwe at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

Okwukwe rejected the ruling and urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola to vacate the order.

The group further urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign an Executive Order to overthrow the ruling of the apex court as he is empowered by Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution in Nigeria.

“We call on the President to exercise his constitutional power. We may suggest that he should make an urgent Executive Order to set the terminal date for the new currency to remain February 10, 2023 which he has the powers to do under the law as the ex parte order made outside the jurisdiction cannot stop the Executive Order of the President,” Okwukwe said.