In the lawsuit filed by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara challenging the naira swap deadline, the Supreme Court on Wednesday added nine states as parties.

This occurred as Kaduna and Kogi Governors Nasir El-Rufai and Yahaya Bello, respectively, attended the court proceedings.

The Attorneys General of Katsina, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, and Sokoto States joined the nine-member panel headed by Justice John Okoro as co-plaintiffs.

As co-respondents, the attorneys general of the states of Edo and Bayelsa were added.

The original plaintiffs and the respondent, the Attorney General of the Federation, were ordered by the court to update the previously filed documents to reflect the new parties.

According to The PUNCH, the Supreme Court’s seven-member panel unanimously decided last Wednesday to grant an interim injunction preventing the Federal Government from carrying out the CBN’s deadline of February 10 for exchanging the old naira notes for new ones.

The decision was made in response to a motion ex-parte filed on behalf of the three northern states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, which had filed a lawsuit on February 3rd to stop the CBN’s policy from taking effect.

The PUNCH reports that on February 8, 2022, the Federal High Court in Abuja barred the CBN, commercial banks, and President Major General Muhammadu Buahri (ret.) from interfering with, suspending, or extending the deadline of February 10 for the expiration of the old naira notes.

Details later…