Chisaa Okoye (Business reporter)
Eminent professor of law Itse Sagay (SAN) said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele is in contempt if he has not issued a directive to banks to pay and accept old N1,000 and N500 notes as ordered by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court last Friday held that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes would remain legal tender until December 31 and co-exist with the new ones.
Although some commercial banks have resumed issuance of the old N500 and N1000 notes to customers over the counter and through their Automated Teller Machines (ATM), most customers who accepted the old N1000 and N500 notes from their banks could not spend them as motorists, fuel stations, retailers, traders, and others still rejected them because the CBN, the banking sector regulator, had yet to approve them as legal tender.
Bank sources confirmed on Thursday there is no official directive to commercial banks by the CBN to that effect despite the order of the Supreme Court last Friday.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos on the activities of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Sagay stated that every Supreme Court order is binding on all.
Sagay 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.
“The CBN does not need anyone to give it instructions to obey a judgment because it is an agency of the Federal Government.
“But, everybody is bound by the judgment, including the Attorney-General of the Federation. He is bound by the judgment.”
PACAC, which is chaired by Sagay noted: “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.”