Valentine Okafor
The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, April 5, 2024, secured the conviction of Idris Okuneye, a.k.a Bobrisky, before Justice Abimbola Awogboro sitting at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos over mutilation of the Naira notes.
He was arraigned on Friday on a four-count charge bordering on mutilation of the Naira notes to the tune of N490, 000, 00 (Four Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira).
Count one reads: “That you, OKUNEYE IDRIS OLANREWAJU, on the 24th day of March, 2024, at Imax Circle Mal, Jakande, Lekki, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with the total sum of N400,000.00 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira) notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
Another count reads: “That you, OKUNEYE IDRIS OLANREWAJU, between July and August, 2023 at Aja Junction, Ikorodu, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social event, tampered with the sum N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to him.
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, S.I. Sulaiman sought to invite the investigating officer, ASE I Bolaji Temitope Aje, to give a brief review of the facts.
Aje narrated to the court that the EFCC received intelligence on some individuals, who are in the habit of mutilating and spraying the Naira notes at social parties and event centres in Lagos.
“Based on the intelligence, the EFCC set up the Special Operations Team to observe and monitor activities of individuals, who are involved in the habit of mutilating the Naira.
“The team visited many event centres and monitored social media pages, where the Naira was being abused.
“During the course of the monitoring, the team came across videos on social media, where the defendant was seen abusing the Naira.
“The team then proceeded to download these videos via our office laptop computers and also went further to copy these videos on compact discs.