Nollywood actress Omoseyin jailed 6 months, with option of N300k fine
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nollywood actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for spraying and stepping on new naira banknotes at a social event in Lagos, an act classified as naira abuse by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
A statement posted on the official X handle of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Omoseyin was convicted and sentenced on February 1 by Judge Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Lagos Federal High Court.
“She 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,’” the statement explained.
“She was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023.”
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Option of N300k fine
“One of the court 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.’”
The EFCC recounted that at the resumed hearing on February 1, Omoseyin changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty”, in view of the overwhelming evidence against her.
Aneke sentenced her to six months imprisonment, effective from February 1, with an option of N300,000 fine to be paid into the consolidated revenue account of the federation.
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in January warned the Olu of Owode Egba, Aremo Sowemimo, over abusing naira notes during the 13th anniversary of his coronation.
Sowemimo was seen in a viral video spraying naira notes on a musician at the ceremony.
NOA Director General Lanre Issa-Onilu described the display as an abuse of the national currency which attracts imprisonment, fines or both.
