By Emmanuel Adeleke
A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has sentenced Nigerian actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, for spraying and stepping on new naira notes at a friend’s wedding.
A statement issued by the Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewole, said the trial judge, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, sentenced Omoseyin to six months’ in prison, but with an option of N300,000 fine.
Omoseyin was arrested on February 1, 2023 after a video of her spraying some new naira notes at a wedding in Lekki, Lagos State, on January 28, 2023 went viral on social media platforms.
It was at a time there was a severe scarcity of naira notes following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s withdrawal of old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes from circulation. The replacement of the affected currency notes with newly designed versions were hard to come by at the time.
She was first arraigned on February 13, 2023 by the EFCC on two counts bordering on violation of provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007 on the handling of naira notes.
She had pleaded “not guilty” and was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, Omoseyin, changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty,” after reviewing the evidence against her.
Following her “guilty plea,” prosecuting counsel, Z.B. Atiku, called on an EFCC operative, Abubakar Mohammed Marafa, to review the facts of the matter.
In his review, Marafa recalled that “the defendant was arrested by officers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on February 1, 2023, and handed over to the EFCC on February 2, 2023 for further investigation.”
According to him, the defendant’s statement was taken under caution, confirming that she attended a friend’s wedding on January 28, 2023, and that she sprayed N200 and N100 notes on the occasion.
“The defendant was processed and the videos of where she sprayed the money was found on her phone. Also, further investigations were carried out and the management of the event centre was invited. They also brought in the video footage of the said event,” Marafa said.
The prosecuting counsel then applied to tender in evidence the letter from the ICPC and other accompanying documents, including the extra-judicial statement of the defendant, forensic report of her phone, a CD of videos showing her spraying the naira notes, a flash drive from the event centre and statement of the representative of the centre.
Justice Aneke admitted all the exhibits
The defence counsel, Afuye Adegbola, pleaded for leniency, saying, “she’s a first-time offender and a mother of one.She is remorseful and pleads for mercy.”
He further pleaded for a non-custodial sentence on behalf of his client.
Delivering judgement, Justice Aneke sentenced the defendant to six months’ in prison, effective from Thursday, with an option of N300,000 fine to be paid into the consolidated revenue account of the federation.
