A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, and Benin City, Edo State, has convicted and sentenced 10 individuals for mutilating and abusing the Nigerian currency by spraying naira notes at social events.
The convictions were secured by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice F. A. Olubanjo of the Federal High Court, Asaba, and Justice (Professor) C. A. Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Benin City.
The convicts are Lucky Onoberhie, Happy Joseph Isioma, Friday Ehiedu, Collins Ndudi Albert, Okorie Builder, Ernest Achieme, Isicheli Desmond Chijioke, Nwosu Davison, Enadegh Agbonmware, and Lucky Osaro.
According to the EFCC, the defendants were prosecuted for tampering with the naira by spraying the currency while dancing at wedding ceremonies and other social events, an offence contrary to Section 21(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007.
One of the charges stated that Ernest Achieme, on December 31, 2025, at Kwale, Delta State, sprayed N50,000 in N200 denominations during a wedding ceremony, thereby violating the provisions of the law.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges after they were read in court. Following their pleas, prosecution counsel, K. W. Chukwuma-Eneh, urged the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Olubanjo sentenced Onoberhie, Isioma, Ehiedu, Ndudi Albert, Builder, Achieme, Chijioke, and Davison to 12 months’ imprisonment each, with an option of a N100,000 fine.
In a separate ruling, Justice Obiozor sentenced Agbonmware to six months’ imprisonment or a N100,000 fine for spraying the naira, while Osaro received the same sentence for committing a similar offence.
The EFCC disclosed that all the convicts signed written undertakings to maintain good conduct going forward.
The anti-graft agency reiterated that the abuse and mutilation of the naira remain offences under Nigerian law and warned members of the public to desist from practices such as spraying, stamping, or otherwise defacing the nation’s currency during social functions.
