No fewer than three women have been convicted by the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, over involvement in currency racketeering.
They were dragged to court by the Ilorin Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of selling new naira notes to the public for commercial purposes.
The offence contravenes Section 21 (4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and is punishable under Section 21 (1).
The convicts, Asmau Sallah Wuraola, Owoduni Abdullahi Isa (Bolaji) and Shuaibu Rukayat, however, pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
According to one of the charges, Wuraola, “on February 17, 2024, at Arca Santa Event Centre, Ilorin, did trade in naira notes issued by the CBN.”
The prosecution counsel, Innocent Mbachie, tendered new naira notes recovered from the women at the point of arrest as evidence and were admitted by the court.
However, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, while delivering the judgment, pronounced the defendants guilty and sentenced them to various jail terms with an option of a N50,000 fine each while also ordering the forfeiture of N1,370,000 recovered from them and the destruction of their PoS machines.