A Lagos-based attorney named Barrister Tope Alabi has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos State to begin legal action against Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, for allegedly disobeying the Supreme Court’s directives regarding the bank’s naira redesign policy.

The attorney filed the ex parte motion on March 27 in the lawsuit, where the CBN governor was named as the only respondent.

Alabi called the CBN’s cashless policy a “cash confiscation policy” and stated that the lack of Naira had a negative impact on the day-to-day operations of his office because his staff was unable to make it to work every day.

He added that commercial drivers “do not have point of sale (POS) devices/machines to collect fares, leading to the inability of his staff to access the office.

The lawyer filed a 28-page affidavit in support of his application where he claimed that the Supreme Court had on March 10 2023, in Suit No. SC. 162/2023, “asked Emefiele to make available and allow the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to co-exist as legal tender with the new N200, N500 and N1000 notes till December 2023.”

“The respondent has refused to comply with the Order of the Supreme Court made on 10 March 2023 till date,” he said.