The Coalition of Civil Societies Coordinating Council on Wednesday rejected the Supreme Court’s ex parte order lifting the han on old Naira notes.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had on January 29, 2023 fixed February 10, 2023 for the old notes to cease to ve legal tender.
However, a seven-man panel led by Justice Jude Okoro lifted the ban pending the determination of the main suit instituted by the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states on February 15, 2023.
The coordinator, Obed Okwukwe, at a press conference in Abuja, urged the apex court to immediately vacate the order as it was an attack on credible elections.
He said: “We urge the apex bank to set an example with any of the commercial banks found wanting in the sabotage of hoarding the new banknotes by imposing heavy financial fines on them as it will surely be a deterrent to any other banks whose officials are planning the same thing.
“We further urge the apex bank to send out manuals of operations now stating severe sanctions to all the banks and financial institutions licensed and operating in Nigeria so that they withdraw their services from any person or group seeking to use their platform to compromise elections,” the group said.
The groups also noted that following the 2015 general election, it became public that one commercial bank yielded its platform and services to a political party for the rigging of elections.
“It is not public knowledge if there are sanctions but Nigerians would not want a repeat of that. But where it occurs, citizens would want to also hear of the heavy sanctions imposed.
“The apex bank should also demand of all the CEO and Managing Directors of all banks who received allocations of the new notes to bring documents to prove how all these monies were disbursed and in the units how they were disbursed.
“This call has become necessary with reports in the media showing that officials of banks have been arrested for hoarding the new notes while denying availability,."
