EKITI State Governor Biodun Oyebanji has warned that any resident in the state who fails to accept the old N500 and N1,000 notes for transaction will be arrested and prosecuted.
Oyebanji said the Supreme Court’s ruling on the notes’ validity until December 2023 was sacrosanct.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode, the governor said it was a crime for anyone, organization or business to reject the money.
He called on commercial banks in the state to load the old notes in their automated teller machines (ATMs) and also issue them acroos the counter in order to ease the pains imposed on the people by the shortage of the new notes.
Oyebanji said he was overwhelmed by the residents’ complaints over the daily hardship caused by naira scarcity.
He said, “As honourable people, what is expected of us is to abide by the ruling of the apex court and continue to accept the old naira notes as means of transactions, and not to inflict further hardship on one another by rejecting them.
“This is a special appeal to all the banks to make the naira notes available in all their branches and pay points, and to all traders, business owners, service providers, okada riders, drivers, filling stations, gas plants, supermarkets, schools, hospitals, and PoS operators to start accepting the old notes forthwith.
“To do otherwise would amount to defying the ruling of the highest court in the country and thwarting government efforts at reducing the hardship of the people…In the same vein, government will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute business owners found rejecting the old naira notes.”
The ICIR reported how the CBN introduced the new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes on December 15, 2022, and rendered the old notes illegal tender on February 10.
While Nigerians rushed to their banks to deposit the old notes with the hope that the new notes would be available, it has been a huge challenge for many organisations, homes and individuals to get the cash to sustain them one month after the policy took effect.
In one of its many reports on the hardship the policy has brought to people in the country, The ICIR reported how Nigerians went nude, fought in banks and engaged in other habits that counted as offences when things were normal.
Similarly, The ICIR reported how President Muhammadu Buhari authorised the currency redesign and how the Supreme Court nullified its implementation.
On Sunday, March 5, this medium reported how Buhari and the CBN had kept mute on the Supreme Court ruling.
In another report on March 8, The ICIR published how Abuja residents rejected the old notes.
By its threat, Ekiti State has joined Kogi, Kaduna, Kano and some other states that had criminalised rejection of the old notes.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org