BREAKING: Fresh Crisis Looms for Emefiele Over Refusal To Direct Banks To Pay, Accept Old Notes

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been accused of committing the crime of contempt for his failure to obey the rulings of the Supreme Court.

As reported by The Nation newspaper, the apex court had earlier ruled that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes would remain legal tender until December 31 and co-exist with the new ones.

Following the order issued by the apex court, Governor Emefiele is yet to instruct banks to begin to accept and pay customers the old naira notes.

Veteran Professor of Law Itse Sagay, at a media parley on Wednesday, March 8, said:

“Every decision of the Supreme Court is binding on everybody, including the government, its agencies and the President.

“The only thing is that nothing can be done if the President decides to disregard it because of his immunity, but he is bound by law.”

Prof Sagay noted that the CBN, under the ambit of the law, does not need any directive from anyone, not even the president, before it obeys a court ruling.

He said:

“So, if the CBN has not yet directed banks to obey the Supreme Court decision, it means that the governor Godwin Emefiele is committing contempt of court and there could be consequences for that.”