Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Arabic Inscriptions on Naira Notes

•Urges FG to remove them for peace’s sake

Wale Igbintade

Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday, dismissed a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, challenging the Arabic inscription on the Nigeria notes.

Omirhobo had sued the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the federal government, the President and the Attorney General of the Federation on the matter.

Delivering judgement, the judge held that although the plaintiff had the locus standi to institute the action, he failed to prove how the 1st defendant’s (Central Bank of Nigeria) design, issue, print and distribution of  the Naira notes with Arabic inscription was done in bad faith.

Relying on the celebrated case between Chief Gani Fawehimi V. Akilu (1998) 2NWLR  (Part  102 ), 122  at 169, Justice Bogoro held that Nigeria being a secular State, no religion was superior to the other.

He further held that Nigeria was a multi ethnic and religious country and no ethnic group or religion was superior to the other.

The court also held that the Arabic language  is not Nigeria’s official language and advised that for Nigerians to coexist in harmony,  it  was about time the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government removed the Arabic inscription on  the N200, N500 and N1000  naira notes since it has been removed from  the N5, N10, N50 and N100.

The plaintiff had contended that having Arabic inscriptions on the Naira notes portrayed Nigeria as an Islamic state, contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state.

Omirhobo, who said he did not know what the Arabic inscriptions meant, prayed the court to order the CBN to replace the Arabic inscriptions with either English, which is the country’s official language, or any of Nigeria’s three main indigenous languages – Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo.

According to the lawyer, with the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes, the CBN has been violating sections 10 and 55 of the Nigerian constitution, which make the country a secular state.

He wanted the court to restrain the CBN from “further approving, printing and issuing naira notes with Arabic inscriptions, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular state.”