Lagos, 20 states may join currency swap suit Wednesday

Lagos Stare is collaborating with not less than 20 other states to apply for joinder in the suit filed by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara to demand the review of the currency re-design policy of the Federal Government to extend the use of old notes until new notes are sufficiently available when the case comes up WEDNESDAY February 15

The original suit filed by three of their peers-Nasir El-Rufai,{ Kaduna) Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle(Zamfara) when the case resumes at the Supreme Court on February 15.

Towards this goal, the states have mandated their attorney generals to prepare joiner processes and file as early as possible.

The states include Lagos, Oyo, Borno, Katsina, Ondo, Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, Kwara, Ekiti, Ogun, Jigawa, Imo, Kebbi, Nasarawa,Rivers, Ebonyi, and Niger.

Over the weekend, six states – Kano, Ekiti, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Niger- have confirmed their plans to sue the Federal Government.

The lawyers working round the clock to put the joinder together on behalf of the state governors are based in Lagos.

Although the Council of State met Friday February 10 and resolved to advise President Muhammadu Buhari to direct  Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele to keep the old notes in circulation until there is sufficient new notes to meet the huge demand of the public for cash transactions, the resolution does not compel the president to comply.

Besides, the decision of Attorney-General of the Federation Ababubakar Malami to challenge the original suit asking the court to set aside its order on the CBN to suspend its February 10 deadline for the use of old notes made it necessary to obtain the order from a source of authority that the executive arm must obey.

This is the argument made by the proponents of the suit to keep the litigation in court and obtain a clear judgment that will give the Presidency and by extension, the Central Bank no place to hide.

Meanwhile, the petroleum products distribution arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has directed filling stations  to accept point of sale and transfer payment options to reduce difficulties arising from the cash crunch caused by inadequate currency notes in the economy.

We are ready for the polls- INEC

Umpire of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls and March 11 governorship and House of Assembly polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission has assured Nigerians that it is prepared to conduct the polls.

Making the presentation before the Council of States Friday February 10, INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu told members that INEC has made contingency plans for locations where its offices were attacked and had custody of the equipment and was on top of logistics.

INEC is also encouraged by reports of high collection rate of the permanent voters cards showing  that Lagos, which has 7.1 million voters recorded 87.8% collection rate.

The results of the mock voter accreditation exercise conducted February 4, this year also assured the electoral umpire of the acceptance of the BImodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS by Nigerians.

The BVAS is bimodal because it has two modes of recognising the voter for accreditation- the face and the fingerprint.

According to reports of the mock, persons who failed Fingerprint recognition were able to use facial recognition.

INEC chairman Professor Yakubu said the mock will enable the body ascertain if the BVAS machines are working maximally.