The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has sentenced three businessmen to various jail terms for being in possession of counterfeit naira notes.
The convicts are 46-year-old aluminium fabricator Olaitan Dina from Maraba in Ilorin; Opeyemi Jeremiah, a bakery worker from Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara; and Adebayo Mayowa Abiola from Osi, Ekiti State.
Justice Abimbola Awogboro, who presided over the case, found the defendants guilty of currency counterfeiting after reviewing the evidence presented by the prosecution.
The judgment followed the arrest of the suspects by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Ilorin, who later handed them over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and prosecution.
EFCC investigators discovered that the counterfeit naira notes recovered from the defendants bore identical serial numbers, confirming their involvement in currency counterfeiting.
During the trial, EFCC counsel Aliyu Adebayo presented Detective Abdulhakeem Sani Umar as a witness.
The operative told the court that the fake currency recovered from the defendants was sent to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja for forensic analysis, which confirmed that the notes were indeed counterfeit.
The prosecution submitted the counterfeit notes along with the defendants’ statements as evidence, urging the court to deliver a guilty verdict.
Delivering her judgment, Awogboro ruled that the prosecution had successfully established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The issue of naira counterfeiting is a serious crime against the law and society. I wonder what this country is turning into. Many are involved in drug abuse, some in cybercrime, and now others in counterfeiting. The court must pass a sentence that will serve as a deterrent,” she said.
Justice Awogboro sentenced Dina to 18 months’ imprisonment, while Jeremiah and Abiola were each sentenced to 15 months.
The judge ordered that the sentences take effect from October 15, 2025, and ruled that there would be no option of a fine, emphasizing that the punishment should serve as a deterrent to others involved in financial crimes.
All counterfeit notes recovered from the convicts were ordered forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the EFCC commended the NSCDC for its collaboration and reaffirmed its commitment to working with other security agencies to combat economic and financial crimes nationwide.
