SERAP Sues Buhari over Ban on Old N500, N1,000 Notes

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari over the directive banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 banknotes, contrary to the interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court that they should remain legal tender pending the determination of the suit.

Joined in the suit as Defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Supreme Court in a case initially brought by 10 states recently held that the old banknotes remain legal tender pending the determination of a motion on notice fixed for February 22. The deadline for the swap of the old notes expired February 10.
However, Buhari in a national broadcast last week directed the CBN to recirculate only the old N200 banknotes, thereby overruling the Supreme Court and banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 notes in the country.

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/233/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja SERAP asked the court to determine whether Buhari’s directive banning the N500 and N1,000 banknotes was not inconsistent and incompatible with the constitutional duties to obey decisions of the Supreme Court and oath of office.
SERAP asked the court for a declaration that Buhari’s directive banning the use of old N500 and N1,000 banknotes was a fundamental breach of section 287(1) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and his constitutional oath of office, and therefore unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void.

SERAP also sought an order of interim injunction restraining Buhari, the CBN and Malami, their agents or privies from further enforcing the presidential directive banning the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed contemporaneously in this suit.

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, and Kolawole Oluwadare, read in part: “It is a very serious matter for anyone to flout a positive order of a court. President Buhari’s directive undermines the authority and independence of the judiciary, which is an underlying constitutional principle intended to ensure that government is conducted according to law, and to prevent the arbitrary exercise of powers or discretion by public officials and authorities.

“An order of Court must be obeyed even if such an order is perverse, until such a time that the order is set aside by a competent court. A flagrant flouting of an order of the court by the executive is an invitation to anarchy.
“The rule of law makes all government officials, including the President and other officials, answerable for their acts in the ordinary courts. The law must apply to everybody; nobody is above the law.

“Section 281(1) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that, ‘the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court. Under 318 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution, ‘decision’ means in relation to a court, any determination of that court and includes judgement decree, order, conviction, sentence or recommendation. It is the duty of the government to allow the law to take its course or allow the legal and judicial process to run its full course.”

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.