Ekiti State Government, South-West Nigeria, applied to be joined as a co-plaintiff in a suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court on the Naira redesign policy and the deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the swapping of old notes for new ones.

The Special Adviser to Governor Biodun Oyebanji on Media, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, announced this in a statement made available to journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday.

According to him, the application for joinder was filed on Friday at the Supreme Court by the Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), seeking three reliefs.

The statement said that the suit, with the number SC/CV/162/2023, had Attorneys-General of Kaduna State, Kogi State and Zamfara State as plaintiffs, with the Attorney-General of the Federation as the defendant.

The reliefs being sought by the Attorney-General of Ekiti included leave of the court to join the applicants as a co-plaintiff.

Some of the grounds of the application included acute shortage in the supply of Naira notes in the state since the announcement of the policy by the Federal Government through the CBN.

The applicant, Ekiti Government, declared that the directive of the Federal Government had affected the livelihood and inflicted excruciating pain and hardship on all Nigerians, including citizens of the state.

The State Government equally averred that the directive of the Federal Government had adversely affected the revenue, levies and taxes accruable to the coffers of Ekiti Government as economic activities in the state were now paralysed.

He further averred that the directive of the Federal Government on the Naira redesign had also created palpable anxiety among the citizens of Ekiti.

Another ground was that Ekiti, as a federating state of Nigeria, therefore, had interest in the determination of the Originating Summons in the suit, earlier filed by the three states in the federation.

Ekiti Government said that, having common interest as other plaintiffs, and also in the outcome of the suit, it sought the leave of the court to be joined as a co-plaintiff in order to be bound by the outcome of the suit.

It stated that no injustice or embarrassment would be occasioned to any of the parties on record, if joined, as a co-plaintiff to ventilate the grievances of Ekiti.

“The sole issue formulated for determination is whether the applicant has made a case for the court to favourably consider the application,” it stated.

It added: “This was supported by an argument that the court had always been of position that anyone whose presence is crucial and fundamental to a suit must be made a party to the proceedings.”