A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on Thursday convicted and sentenced one Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, an actress, to six months imprisonment for spraying and stepping on the new naira notes at a social event in Lagos.
The actress, also known as Simi Gold, was first arraigned on February 13, 2023 by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on two-count charges to which she pleaded not guilty. She was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, on the 28th day of January 2023, at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social occasion, tampered with the sum of N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same in the said occasion, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Omoseyin, however, changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty”, in view of the overwhelming evidence against her.
Following her “guilty” plea, the prosecution counsel, Z.B. Atiku, called Abubakar Mohammed Marafa, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the matter.
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 Commission the following day for further investigation.”
According to him, the defendant’s statement was taken under caution, where she stated that she attended a friend’s wedding on January 28, 2023 and 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.”
