Nigerian actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, has been sentenced to six months in prison for her actions of spraying and stepping on new Naira notes during a social event in Lagos. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) revealed this information in a statement posted on its official handle on Thursday. Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over the case on February 1, 2024.
Omoseyin was initially arraigned on February 13, 2023, by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC on two-count charges, to which she initially pleaded ‘not guilty’ and was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023. One of the charges stated that on January 28, 2023, during a social occasion at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos, she tampered with the sum of N100,000.00 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying it, thereby violating Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.
During the resumed hearing, Omoseyin changed her plea to ‘guilty’ in light of the overwhelming evidence against her. Justice Aneke, in delivering the judgment, sentenced her to six months imprisonment, effective from Thursday, with an alternative option of paying a fine of N300,000 into the consolidated revenue account of the federation.
This incident follows a previous warning by the National Orientation Agency to the Olu of Owode Egba, Oba Aremo Sowemimo, for similar actions during his 13th-anniversary celebration. The Oba was seen in a viral video spraying naira notes on a musician, prompting the agency to emphasize that such actions constitute an abuse of the national currency, potentially leading to imprisonment, fines, or both.
