Tuesday, May 13, 2025 - The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction and sentence of Babatunde Peter Olaitan and Tobilola Olamide to six months imprisonment each for mutilation of the Naira notes.
They were jailed on
Thursday, May 8, 2025, by Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court
sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The convicts were
arraigned on a separate one-count charge of tampering with the Naira notes and
spraying, to which they each pleaded “guilty”.
The charge against
Olaitan reads: “That you, BABATUNDE PETER OLAITAN, on 8th April 2025, at 23,
Macdonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court,
whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of
N200 (Two Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying it,
and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section
21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
The charge against
Olamide reads: ”That you, TOBILOLA OLAMIDE A.K.A TobiNation, on 8th April 2025,
at 23 Macdonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable
Court, whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination
of N200 (Two Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying
it, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under
Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
In view of their pleas,
prosecution counsel, C.C. Okezie and H.U.KofarNaisa, respectively, reviewed the
facts of the cases through Ibrahim Bukar, an investigative officer with the
EFCC.
In his evidence, Bukar
specifically told the court that the Commission, on April 10, 2025, generated
an intelligence-driven investigation on TikTok, where Olaitan, also known as
TDollar, was seen spraying Naira notes.
He also told the court
that “Upon the approval of the intelligence by the Zonal Director, a letter of
investigation was sent to the defendant, requesting him to make a statement
regarding the video.
“The defendant reported
to the Special Operations Team, SOT, on May 5, 2025 and his statement was
recorded under caution.
“He stated that he went
to a night club on April 8, 2025 and met some of his fans sharing money.
"He also said that a
fan, in the process, gifted him a bundle of N200 notes, which he sprayed on
some of his other fans
"He was shown a
video of him spraying the money and he made a statement regarding it.”
Consequently, the
defendants’ extrajudicial statements and video recordings were rendered and
admitted in evidence by the court.
Okozie and KofarNaisa,
therefore, respectively prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants
accordingly.
Justice Owoeye convicted
and sentenced both Olaitan and Olamide to six months imprisonment each, with an
option of fine in the sum of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira.
The convicts' road to the
Correctional Centre started when they were arrested by operatives of the EFCC
for Naira abuse. They were charged to court and convicted.
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