By Olakunle Olafioye
The recent conviction of popular Nigerian cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, is the beginning of wisdom for many Nigerians who have the penchant for the abuse of the nation’s currency, the Naira.
Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced the controversial cross-dresser for Naira abuse to a six-month prison term on Friday, April 12. The judge, in his ruling, said Bobrisky’s sentence would serve as a lesson for others from abusing the Naira.
Bobrisky’s conviction came after he pleaded guilty to the allegations of tampering with and spraying of the naira at a number of social functions.
The offence, according to the chargesheet, is contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.
Perhaps in a bid to further demonstrate its determination to rescue the country’s currency from the age-long abuse it has been subjected to, the Federal Government again took the fight against the abuse of the naira to another celebrity last week with the arrangement of Pascal Okechukwu popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest.
Okechukwu was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Lagos by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Kehinde Ogundare.
The anti-graft commission had filed a three-count charge against Cubana Chief Priest whom it accused of abusing the naira at a social event, an act said to be at variance with the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.
But unlike Bobrisky, Okechukwu pleaded not guilty and the court granted him bail in the sum of ₦10 million.
The anti-graft commission has also revealed that it was investigating several celebrities who might have been involved in currency abuse in the past.
Ostensibly rattled by the commission’s pronouncement, controversial singer and street pop artiste, Habeeb Okikiola, popular known as Portable, made what many observers described as a preemptive appeal to the anti-graft agency not to visit his ‘old sin’ on him of having subjected the naira to an abuse by spraying and throwing it at his fans in the past.
In a video which trended on social media, the Zazu crooner urged his followers and beneficiaries to open bank accounts, stating that he would only make transfers henceforth.
His words: “I didn’t deface the Naira. I am only helping the people. Please forgive me if you have videos of me spraying money, no more spraying of money.
“My fans, I will no longer spray money. If it’s about money, open bank accounts, and let’s make transfers.”
The Nigerian government may have struck a chord with the ongoing onslaught against the abusers of the Naira as a new culture of handling the nation’s currency appropriately is now spreading rapidly at social events, which had for a long time been at the centre of the abuse of the nation’s currency.
It is no longer uncommon to see music artistes, entertainers, social events and party organisers now with cartons, polythene and bags where money meant to be sprayed is dropped.
This is indeed a sharp departure from what obtained in the country prior to the arrest, arraignment and the conviction of Bobrisky two weeks ago.
Signs of trouble for abusers of the naira note had multiplied as early as in January when the National Orientation Agency, NOA, issued a stern warning over the same infraction following the manner of abuse melted on the nation’s currency by a monarch in Ogun State.
In a viral video, the monarch was seen with N1,000 notes knitted into what looked like a garland with which he decorated a popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde, at a party.
Reacting to the development in a statement, The Director General, NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the act of the monarch attracts imprisonment.
The statement reads in part: “The NOA has the mandate to preserve and promote the integrity of our national symbols and we are compelled to appeal to you and indeed all traditional rulers to see it as part of your duty to preserve these symbols as part of our national culture. These symbols are icons that define us as a sovereign nation and respect for them is also respect for our country.”
The NOA boss, however, appealed to the monarch to desist from such an act and urged him to become an apostle against abuse of the Naira notes.
Notwithstanding the new found sanity the Naira now enjoys at social gatherings, a legal practitioner, Nurain Oyelakin, is of the view that more Nigerians are likely to fall victims of the law against naira abuse as a result of ignorance about other practices which constitute abuse of the currency.
Oyelakin said while spraying of the nation’s currency is the most popular abuse against the naira and which could easily attract the attention of law enforcement agencies, there are other less obvious or common practices or ways Nigerians handle the currency which equally constitute abuse of the nation’s currency.
According to him, “what most Nigerians do not know about the abuse of naira is that the infraction is not limited to hauling or spraying of the naira at parties or social gatherings.
“In addition to the spraying of the naira, there are about six or seven other practices that constitute abuse of the naira. One of which is the common practice of rejecting or the refusal to collect the naira as a means of payment in Nigeria.
“Session 20 (5) of the Act prescribes a fine of N50, 000 or six month imprisonment for anyone who rejects the naira as a means of payment in Nigeria.
“Other infractions which constitute gross abuse of the naira include: writing on the naira notes, mutilation of bank notes, soiling of the notes, tearing of our money, stapling together of the naira and, of course, the practice of selling the naira especially at social gatherings. All these infractions are capable of sending anyone to jail now in Nigeria. So, Nigerians should be extremely careful in the way they handle the naira to avoid falling victims.”