No religion is superior to the other: Court issues fresh order to CBN concerning Arabic Inscription On 200, 500, 1000 Naira Notes

Lawyer Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo’s appeal against the Arabic lettering on Nigerian Naira notes was dismissed by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The Lagos-based attorney’s lawsuit was dismissed by Presiding Judge Yellim Bogoro on Tuesday. The defendants were also advised to “remove the Arabic inscription on the N200, N500, and N1000 naira notes since it has been removed from the N5, N10, N50, and N100.”

Omirhobo sued the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Attorney General of the Federation in January 2020 over the inscription, bringing the case before Justice Mohammed Liman.

Omirhobo contended that Nigeria is a secular state and sought the court to rule that the Arabic writing on naira notes is illegal, illegitimate, and unconstitutional instead of English language or Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

In November 2020, the CBN filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court, arguing that the Ajami (Arabic) inscriptions should be removed.

CBN informed the court that printing fresh notes without Ajami and tossing out the old ones would be very expensive.

It further stated that Ajami is an inscription to benefit non-English speakers who are Ajami literate, not a mark or sign of Islam.

Nevertheless, Bogoro cited the case of “Chief Gani Fawehimi V. Akilu (1998) 2NWLR (Part 102), 122 at 169” prior to the dismissal, as reported by Omirhobo via X.

Regarding the case, the Court determined that “Omirhobo has the locus standing to institute the action, but he failed to prove that the Central Bank, which is the first defendant, is acting in bad faith in designing, issuing, printing, and distributing the naira notes with Arabic inscriptions,” and as a result, the suit was dismissed.

The Court also noted that “Nigeria is a secular state and that no religion is superior to the other.”

Bogoro ruled that “Nigeria is a multi ethnic and religious country and that to ethnic group or religion is superior to the other.”

To this end, the Judge stated that “Arabic language is not Nigeria’s official language and advised that for Nigerians to coexist in harmony, it is high time for the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Government to remove the Arabic inscription on the N200, N500and N1000 naira notes since it has been removed from the N5, N10 ,N50 and N100.”

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), directed by Ishaq Akintola, had responded to the Omirhobo lawsuit by requesting its dismissal.

The lawyer’s actions, according to Akintola, were driven by “religious bigotry, religious intolerance, and outright hatred for Islam.”

MURIC and Akintola countered that Nigeria is a secular state and that the constitution included no mention of this, refuting Omirhobo’s claim.

Additionally, they contended that Arabic is merely a language and not a synonym for Islam, citing the fact that the Bible, the sacred book of Christians, is printed in Arabic in a number of nations, including Israel, Egypt, Palestine, Libya, and Syria.

MURIC and Akintola argued that there was no law designating English as Nigeria’s official language, in response to Omirhobo’s request that the Arabic text on naira notes be substituted with English.

They went on to say that there was no reason Arabic shouldn’t be allowed on naira notes if the sign of the cross, which is associated with Christianity, could be used on government-owned hospitals and ambulances.

The Federal Government and the CBN “will incur colossal sums of money to discard the currencies with Arabic inscription and print new Nigerian currencies,” they said, should Omirhobo’s lawsuit win.

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