The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced two residents, Mutairu Tawa and Faith Chukwujeku, to six months’ imprisonment each for unlawfully trading and hawking naira notes.
The convicts were separately arraigned before Justice A. Aluko by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on one-count charges bordering on the illegal sale and hawking of the Nigerian currency.
The charges stemmed from separate incidents allegedly involving the trading of large quantities of naira notes at an event centre in Lagos.
According to the charge against Tawa on Tuesday read that she, on or about July 25, 2026, at Salamagic Event Centre, Onikan, Lagos, unlawfully sold and traded the sum of ₦850,000, an offence said to be contrary to Section 21(4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, as amended, and punishable under Section 21(10) of the same Act.
Similarly, Chukwujeku was charged with unlawfully hawking a total of ₦1.3 million in ₦200 denominations issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The offence was said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 21(4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2007.
After the charges were read to them in open court, both defendants pleaded guilty to the respective charges.
Following their guilty pleas, EFCC prosecution counsel, Fanen Anum, reviewed the facts of the cases before the court and presented the evidence recovered from the convicts.
Anum urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants in accordance with the law, stressing that the prosecution had established the elements of the offences against them.
The prosecution counsel also asked the court to order the forfeiture of the cash recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, describing the money as an instrument used in committing the offences.
In his ruling, Justice Aluko found Tawa and Chukwujeku guilty of the offences and sentenced each of them to six months’ imprisonment, with an option of ₦50,000 fine.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the cash marked as Exhibit C to the Federal Government, holding that the money constituted an instrument used in committing the offence.