Biodun Oyebanji, governor of Ekiti State, has warned that the government will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute businessmen and service providers who refuse to accept the old N500 and N1000 amounts.
Remember that the old denominations are currently lawful cash according to a Supreme Court order that extended their validity until December 31, 2023.
The governor charged all business owners in the state to stay law abiding in a statement issued on Saturday by Oyebanji’s special assistant on media, Yinka Oyebode.
In a statement headlined “Oyebanji asks Ekiti residents to accept old naira notes,” the governor also encouraged banks to make the naira notes available in all of their branches and pay terminals.
In a statement headlined “Oyebanji asks Ekiti residents to accept old naira notes,” the governor further requested banks to make the naira notes available to all traders, company owners, service providers, okada riders, drivers, filling stations, gas plants, supermarkets, schools, and hospitals.
“To do otherwise would be to disobey the verdict of the country’s highest court and obstruct government attempts to alleviate people’s hardship,” he said.
The governor reaffirmed that it is illegal for any company owner or service provider to refuse the old naira notes, just as the government stated that it will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those discovered doing so.
Oyebanji, on the other hand, voiced concern about the complaints that several businesses have received.
Businesses in the state refused to take the obsolete naira bills as payment.
“This is a request to the citizens of Ekiti State to abide by the judgement of the Supreme Court, which gives a reprieve for the people by extending the validity date of the old naira notes till December 31.
“As respectable people, what is expected of us is to abide by the judgement of the top court and continue to accept the old naira notes as means of transaction and not to inflict extra misery on one another by rejecting them.
“The government will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute company owners found rejecting outdated naira notes,” Oyebanji was quoted as saying in the statement.
The administration of Ekiti had joined the other states.
to petition the Supreme Court to intervene in restoring the new currency policy, which the states claimed had caused severe agony and hardship to the people while also destroying economic activity.
Mismob Media