In The Spotlight

On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, convicted an actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, of spraying and stepping on new Naira notes at a friend’s wedding in Lagos.

                      Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin

Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was sentenced by Chukwujekwu Aneke, the trial judge at the court proceeding, to six months’ imprisonment but with an option of N300,000 fine.

A statement by Dele Oyewale, the Head, Media & Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the prosecuting agency.

A video clip of Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin spraying new Naira notes at a wedding in Lekki, Lagos State, on 28 January 2023 went viral on social media platforms.

Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was arrested on 1 February 2023.

Her performance was at a period that there was a severe scarcity of Naira notes following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s withdrawal of old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes from circulation and replacement of the affected currency notes with newly designed versions which were hard to come by at the time.

Ms Omoseyin was first arraigned on 13 February 2023 by the EFCC on two counts accusing her of violating 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 15 February 2023.

But at the resumed hearing on Thursday, Ms Omoseyin, changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty”, following her review of the evidence lined up against her.

Following her “guilty plea”, the prosecuting counsel, Z.B. Atiku, called on an EFCC operative, Abubakar Mohammed Marafa, to review the facts of the matter.

In his assessment, Mr Marafa recollected that “the defendant was arrested by officers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on 1 February 2023, and handed over to the EFCC on 2 February 2023 for further investigation.”

According to him, the defendant’s statement was taken under caution, confirming that she attended a friend’s wedding on 28 January 2023, and that she sprayed N200 and N100 Naira 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,” Said Mr Marafa.