Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court in Ilorin, Kwara State on Monday, convicted and sentenced three currency racketeers to various jail terms for selling new naira notes to the public for commercial purposes.
The convicts are Asmau Sallah Wuraola, Owoduni Abdullahi Isa and Shuaibu Rukayat.
This was contained in a statement shared on the EFCC’s Facebook page on Monday.
The suspects were jailed on Monday, March 4, 2024 after pleading guilty to one-count separate charges upon being arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
One of the count charge read, “That you, Asmau Salah Wuraola, on the 17th day of February, 2024, at Arca Santa Event Center in Ilorin, Kwara State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, did trade in Naira Notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria and thereby committed an Offence Contrary to Section 21 (4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and punishable under Section 21 (1) of the same Act”
Following the pleas of the defendants, prosecuting counsel, Innocent Mbachie reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered as evidence new naira notes recovered from them at the point of arrest.
Mbachie prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Delivering judgment, Justice Anyadike pronounced the defendants guilty and sentenced them to various jail terms.
Wuraola was sentenced to two months imprisonment with an option of fine of N50,000.
The court ordered that the sum of N1,020,000 recovered from the convict be forfeited to the Federal Government while the POS machine recovered at the point of arrest be destroyed by the EFCC.
Isa was sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of fine of N50,000.
Rukayat was sentence to six months imprisonment with an option of fine of N50,000.
