Deltans are Suffering, Prevail on Banks to Use Old N500, N1,000 Notes in Delta State, CDHR Tells Gov. Okowa

By Ezekiel Kagbala

As Delta State residents groan over  rejection of old naira notes, The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) Delta State Chapter has called on the Executive Governor of Delta State, Senator Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa to take urgent steps to prevail on the Banks in the State to obey the Judgement of the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered on 23rd February, 2023.

The Judgement which directs the unbanning of the old #500.00 and #1,000.00 notes and for both the new and old Naira notes to circulate together side by side as Legal tender till 31st December, 2023 and for same to be made available to Nigerians and doing business in the country.

The call was made by the Chairman, CDHR, Delta State Chapter, Senior Comrade Elder (Chief) Edariese A. Peter, during a chat with Newsmen in his Resident in Owhase Town, Udu, Delta State on Sunday, 12th March, 2023.

According to him, "The call became necessary in view of the suffering Deltans and Nigerians in general are passing through at the moment in the hands of Banks operating in the State when they have cause to visit their banks to do cash transactions

"In such occasion, they are paid with only the old notes and when they get back to the Society, the old notes are rejected as a result of apathy on the part of the general public as a result of the experience they have since the Naira Swap policy came into existence and no one can blame them.

"The only Honourable thing left to be done is for our Executive Governor to issue a Statement on the issues to prevail on the Banks to obey the orders contained in the Supreme Court Judgement to the letter by making available both the old and the new notes and as well order members of the public to  accept the old Naira notes as they remain Legal tender till 31st December, 2023 to clear the air on the acceptability of the old Naira notes otherwise, danger looms and the consequences will not be palatable'.

The Septuagenarian also use the opportunity to call on the Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari to prevail on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to make the New Naira notes available for circulation by the Banks as that is the only way the Banks can perform their duties to the Nigerian public in the present situation.

In his words, "The above are the demands of good governance and both the State and the Federal Governments owe the Citizenry these obligations and are therefore, hereby called upon to rise up to the occasion to take the Citizenry out of the doldrums this situation has brought upon them".

Signed:
Comrade Elder (Chief) Edariese A. Peter.
Chairman, CDHR,
Delta State Chapter.

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