Supreme Court has said that it doesn’t want to be used as a scapegoat as a result of the old naira notes case brought before it by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, and seven other state governments.
The Supreme Court made the declaration in response to a plea by the Attorney General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
Onigbanjo accused Malami of acting in contempt of initial court orders, thereby, asking Justice John Okoro to prohibit the Attorney General of the Federation from representing the Federal Government that was sued by 10 state governments over the handling of the deadline to phase out the old naira notes.
“You are not a stranger to this country,” Justice Okoro said, adding: “We don’t want a situation where the judiciary will be a scapegoat. We refuse to be the scapegoat.
“We are hearing this matter today. We don’t intend to keep this matter longer… whether they obey it or not”.
During the hearing however, the Supreme Court rejected the request from the Abia State government to join in the suit.
The apex court said it is too late, however, it went ahead to merge the applications of Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers and four other states with that of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara which initiated the first lawsuit against the Federal