Supreme Court Consolidates Suits on New Naira Notes

The Supreme Court on Wednesday consolidated the suits instituted by the 10 state governments against the Federal Government challenging the implementation of the naira redesign.

At the last hearing on February 15, seven states joined the three initial states as co-plaintiffs, while Edo and Bayelsa states joined the Federal Government as co-defendants.

Expectations are high as the Supreme Court consolidated the suit on Wednesday.

The court, however, refused to join Abia State in the suit on the ground that it came late with its originating summons.

All efforts by Abia State Government to be joined in the suit, was turned down and was ordered to present its case at a later date.

A motion for the consolidation was also argued by the Counsel for Rivers State, Emmanuel Ukala.

Moving the motion on notice, Ukala premised the consolidation request on the need for the suit to be heard without any hinderance since the matter bothers on same issue.

The head of the 7-man panel, Justice John Okoro, granted the request and ordered consolidation of the ten suits into one.

Now, the plaintiffs in the suit are the Attorneys General (AGs) of Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Sokoto, and Lagos states while the defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as well as the AGs of Bayelsa and Edo states.