Actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, sentenced to six months in jail for tampering with Naira Notes

Popular actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, has been sentenced to six months in jail by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, for tampering with and spraying new Naira notes at a social gathering in Lagos. The conviction was reported by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a statement released on Thursday.

Omoseyin was initially arraigned on February 13, 2023, on two-count charges by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC, to which she pleaded “not guilty.” She was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023. The charges relate to her actions at a social occasion on January 28, 2023, at Monarch Event Centre in Lekki, Lagos, where she was accused of tampering with the sum of N100,000.00 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying it during the event.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Omoseyin changed her plea to “guilty” due to overwhelming evidence against her. The prosecution counsel, Z.B. Atiku, presented Abubakar Mohammed Marafa, an EFCC operative, to review the facts of the matter. Marafa recounted 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 EFCC for further investigation.

Further investigations included the retrieval of videos from Omoseyin’s phone showing her spraying money and the involvement of the event center management, who provided additional video footage of the incident.

Judge Aneke delivered the verdict, sentencing Omoseyin to six months in jail, effective immediately, with the alternative option to pay a fine of N300,000.00 into the Federation’s Consolidated Revenue Account. The case highlights the legal consequences of tampering with the country’s currency, as stipulated under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.