TWO JAILED SIX MONTHS FOR NAIRA ABUSE IN LAGOS
The Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Alexander Owoeye, has sentenced the duo of Babatunde Peter Olaitan and Tobilola Olamide to six months imprisonment each for mutilation of the Naira notes.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arraigned Olaitan and Olamide before the court, following which Justice Owoeye delivered the judgment on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, disclosed in a statement tha the convicts were arraigned on a separate one-count charge of tampering with the Naira notes and spraying, to which they each pleaded “guilty”.
The charge against Olaitan reads: “That you, BABATUNDE PETER OLAITAN, on 8th April 2025, at 23, Macdonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N200 (Two Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying it, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
Similarly, the charge against Olamide reads:”That you, TOBILOLA OLAMIDE A.K.A TobiNation, on 8th April 2025, at 23 Macdonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N200 (Two Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying it, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
In delivering the judgment, Justice Owoeye gave the convict an option of fine in the sum of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) each.