The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Thursday, convicted actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin alias Simi Gold, for spraying and stepping on new Naira notes at a friend’s wedding in Lagos.
The trial judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, sentenced her to six months’ imprisonment but with an option of N300,000 fine, according to a statement by Dele Oyewale, the Head, Media & Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the prosecuting agency.
She was arrested on 1 February 2023 after a video clip showing her spraying some new Naira notes at a wedding in Lekki, Lagos State, on 28 January 2023 went viral on social media platforms.
It was at a time 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 review, Mr Marafa recalled 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,” Mr Marafa said.
The prosecuting counsel then applied to tender in evidence the letter from the ICPC and other accompanying documents, including the extra-judicial statement of the defendant, forensic report of her phone, a CD of videos showing her spraying the naira note, a flash drive from the event centre together with the statement of the representative of the centre.
The judge, Mr Aneke, admitted them as exhibits and convicted the defendant, as charged.
The defence counsel, Afuye Adegbola, pleaded for leniency, saying, “she’s a first-time offender; she is a mother of one; she is remorseful and pleads for mercy.”
He further pleaded for a non-custodial sentence on behalf of the convict.
