Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, April 17 filed charges against businessman Pascal Okechukwu alias Cubana Chief Priest over alleged abuse of the Naira.
EFCC acted on a viral video that displayed the tycoon spraying money during a social event at a hotel in Lagos on February 13.
The Nigerian court charged him on three accounts related to spraying and tampering with the Naira notes on three different events.
He is alleged to have tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In the video, the businessman is seen throwing an unknown sum of money in the air while singing and dancing to a popular Afrobeat music.
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Cubana Chief priest was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos for going against the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.
However, this is not the first time Cubana is captured splashing Nairas at events. Videos of him doing the same have made rounds previously on social media arousing mixed reactions from netizens.
Nonetheless, Cubana was released on 10Million Naira cash bail.
EFCC on Naira Abuse
EFCC noted that abuse of the Naira has become an emerging trend among Nigerian celebrities.
Consequently, the agency has fastened its efforts to end the crime especially by popular figures during social gatherings.
They further noted that investigations on other celebrities whom they did not name is underway to ensure the vice comes to an end.
In a separate incident, another popular Nigerian celebrity and cross dresser Idris Okuneye suffered the same fate as Cubana.
Idris alias Bob risky was arrested and jailed for six months after pleading guilty to abuse of the Country’s national currency.
EFCC in a statement revealed how they apprehended the famous cross dresser.
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They noted that a team visited event centers and monitored social media pages to identify places where the Naira was being abused.
“The team visited many event centers 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,” the statement read.
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