See Photos From Council Of State Meeting In Aso Rock

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presiding over the National Council of State meeting on Friday.

Naija News reports that the meeting, which is being held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital, is set to discuss the new naira scarcity and the fuel shortage in the country.

In attendance are former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan; Yakubu Gowon, and Abdulsalami Abubakar as well as ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo who attended virtually.

Also present at the chamber is the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila. Former Chief Justices of the Federation, Alfa Belgore and Tanko Muhammad, are also in attendance.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu; the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, are expected to brief the council on preparations for the forthcoming elections.

Naija News recalls that Buhari had, on November 23, 2022, unveiled the redesigned naira note consisting of N200, N500, and ₦1,000 bank notes, respectively, with a deadline of January 31st to swap old notes for new ones.

But after much outcry by Nigerians and political stakeholders, the President ordered an extension of the deadline to February 10th.

However, the extension has not been successful, as many Nigerians are still scrambling to get the new notes as the deadline draws nearer.

Although governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had met with President Buhari demanding the concurrent use of the new and old notes till the end of this year, Buhari had rejected the demand of the governors and urged Nigerians to give him a seven-day grace to resolve the naira scarcity.

Unsatisfied with Buhari’s response, three APC governors – Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, and Bello Mutawalle of Zamfara – dragged the president and the CBN to the Supreme Court seeking to stop the deadline placed on swapping the old notes.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling on Wednesday, restrained the Federal Government, CBN, and commercial banks from implementing the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes to stop being legal tender.

The apex court also stopped the three defendants from continuing with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue.

Following the ruling, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on behalf of the federal government, filed a preliminary objection to challenge the order of the apex court.