Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has assured the people of the state that none of them would lose their old naira notes.

El-Rufai, who declared that the old N500 and N1,000 notes remain legal tender in Kaduna State, enjoined the people of the state to continue spending the old denominations.

The governor gave the assurance in a state broadcast on Thursday.

He said the old naira notes are still legal tender in Kaduna State until the Supreme Court pronounces otherwise.

Governor El-Rufai said: “Let us stay calm and peaceful, and support the lawful means being utilised to solve our problems.

“On behalf of the Kaduna State Government, I wish to assure you that none of you would lose the money you have in old notes.

“Let no artificial and illegal deadline frighten you. Whether you live in towns, villages or in our isolated rural communities, do not feel stampeded to deposit your old notes in the banks. Hold on to them.

READ ALSO: El-Rufai: Old N500, N1,000 notes remain legal tender in Kaduna

“Continue to use them as legal tender as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. No deadline can render them worthless, ever. The law is on your side.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and the Bills of Exchange Act,  both oblige the CBN to recognise your old notes and give you value in new notes whenever you bring them to the CBN, even in the next 100 years.

“Therefore, as your governor, I wish to assure you that the Kaduna State Government, in collaboration with elected legislators, traditional institution, elected local government councils, markets, and traders associations will help you collect, record, document, collate and deliver all your old notes to the Kaduna branch of the Central Bank on your behalf into the new ones immediately after the elections.

“We will also ensure the delivery of your new notes to your various locations without any hardship or expense on your part. We shall save you any panic and the stress of a long journey from your community to the CBN office in our state capital, from March until December 2023 if need be.”

El-Rufai further stated that the address by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday morning limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200 was a total disregard and disobedience of the Supreme Court ruling on February 8, 2023, which was extended on Wednesday, February 15.

The governor added: “It is also quite revealing that the Federal Government and its agencies not only disobeyed the February 8th ruling by continuing to say the February 10th deadline stands. It is shocking to see the blatant violation of the subsisting and continuing order of the Supreme Court that all the old and new notes should continue to be legal tender until it gives judgment in the case filed by the Kaduna State Government along with several others.

“The address by the President earlier this morning limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200 amounts to total disregard and disobedience of the ruling of February 8th which was extended further yesterday by the Supreme Court.

“The misguided action of the Attorney-General to mislead the President into engaging in this public violation of the order of the highest court of the land shows how desperate the policy architects are to cause national chaos, by showing open contempt for the judiciary.

“The decision to recognise only N200 as legal tender till April that the President announced this morning was offered to the state governments as part of proposals for an out-of-court settlement three days ago.

“The Federal Government asserted that this was offered because all the old N1,000 and N500 notes had been destroyed. We rejected the offer and proved to the officials that not a single higher denomination note had been destroyed.

“We also believe that circulating N200 only to be inadequate in alleviating the suffering that we see every day. We insisted that all the components of the Supreme Court order should be complied with,” El-Rufai said.

The Star