Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, says while the federal government would obey the Supreme Court ruling, which put on hold the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) demonetisation policy, the government would take necessary steps to set aside the interim order.
The Supreme Court had in a ruling on Wednesday suspended the CBN deadline for demonetisation policy and fixed February 15 for hearing on the matter.Malami clarified that the federal government, out of its regard for the rule of law, would abide by the order of the apex court, even though it intended to challenge it and would do so within the provisions of the law.
Malami spoke during an interview on Thursday.
The comments by the minister came as it was gathered that the federal government had filed reasons before the Supreme Court as to why the suit by three states challenging the February 10 deadline fixed by the CBN for phasing out the old N1, 000, N500, and N200 banknotes should be struck out.Yesterday also, the CBN attributed the continued scarcity of new banknotes to hoarding in certain quarters.