₦airaland Forum

To the Nigerian people, my actions were not to cause any trouble or harm. My intentions were pure and naive. I ask for your forgiveness and support in this situation as I had no intention to raise such an alarm. I wasn’t fully aware of the consequences of my action. @PoliceNG

EFCC invites Okoya’s sons over ‘abuse of naira’ in viral video

by Monsuroh Abdulsemiu
January 11, 2025

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited Subomi and Wahab, the sons of Razaq Okoya, the billionaire industrialist, for interrogation over alleged abuse of the naira.

In the invite signed by Michael Wetkas, acting director of the Lagos directorate of the EFCC, the anti-graft agency directed the duo to report to the head, special operations team at the 15A Awolowo Road office of the commission by 10am on Monday, January 13, 2025.

The Okoya brothers have been in the news for “abusing the naira” in a promotional video for a new song.

The video — which featured a police officer holding wads of N1,000 notes as the boys encircled to a tune — had elicited outrage on social media.

On January 10, Muyiwa Adejobi, spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), announced that the officer seen in the video had been arrested and detained.

He said the officer’s actions were unethical, adding that he would face disciplinary action.

“The policeman captured in the recent viral video shared by the sons of the Lagos businessman, Chief Okoya, where they were abusing the naira, has been identified and detained for disciplinary action,” Adejobi wrote on X.

“The involvement of the policeman has been condemned, as it’s unethical. We will always strive hard to uphold the sanctity, credibility, and core values of the police.”

In 2024, the EFCC ramped up its enforcement of naira abuse by celebritries, citing Section 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act.

On April 4, Bobrisky, the social media celebrity, was arrested by the commission in Lagos for defacing naira notes.

The crossdresser was arraigned on a six-count charge by the EFCC.

On April 16, the EFCC filed a three-count charge against Cubana Chief Priest, the socialite and social media influencer, over alleged naira abuse.

The policeman captured in the recent viral video shared by the sons of the lagos businessman, Chief Okoya, where they were abusing the naira, has been identified and detained for disciplinary action. The involvement of the policeman has been condemned, as it's unethical. We will always strive hard to uphold the sanctity, credibility, and core values of the police. Thanks.

naptu2:
Can you believe that it is 31 years (going on 32) since the wedding of the century??

It feels like it was just yesterday.

The battle between Prime People and Vintage People for scoops about the wedding. (The battle began months before the wedding. Every week brought new news about what was being spent on the wedding, what was going to happen, etc).

Then came the day of the wedding and the stories that followed (house and car gifts, who was at the wedding, who was not at the wedding, who performed at the all-night party, etc).

I remember stumbling on a heated debate between some people the very next day. Their relative (who had only recently arrived Lagos from their home town) said that the couple would make back all they spent from the presents that were given to them (he was shocked that they were given several W124 V-Boot Mercedes Benz cars). His relatives, who were based in Lagos, said that it was impossible for the couple to make the money back ( "Do you know how much it costs to have both Sunny and Obey performing at your all-night party?" )

And just like that, they've been married for 31 years. 31 years!

naptu2:
Prince Adedapo Tejuosho (as he then was) and Chief Razak Okoya (founder of Eleganza Industries) were 2 very prominent members of the donation circuit in the 1980s and early 1990s. So you can imagine how big a wedding between their kids would be.

The wedding of Lanre Tejuosho and Moji Okoya in 1987 was one of the biggest and most celebrated weddings in Nigeria's history and the marriage is still going strong 31 years later.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/the-worklife-balance-is-a-myth-moji-tejuosho-the-future-is-bright-—raola-tejuosho/

http://www.theelitesng.com/lagos-bursts-at-the-seams-as-rasak-okoyas-2nd-daughter-moji-tejuosho-celebrates-50th-birthday-in-style/

naptu2:
Post 1 B

Donation circuit

The donation circuit was not a formal organisation, but it’s the way that I refer to a phenomenon that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s (the Babangida era).

Some of Nigeria’s wealthiest men were often invited to specific events in which they donated large sums of money. These events included fund raising in churches and mosques, university convocations, book launching and fund raising activities by universities, secondary schools, community development associations and charities.

It was usually the same set of people that were invited to these events. The president was usually the special guest of honour (when he was invited), the governor was usually the chief host, the head of the institution was usually the host, Chief Abiola was usually the chief launcher and other members of the donation circuit were usually special guests.

There was a day that I watched the 9 o’clock news and there was an advert for one of these events and the invited guests were listed. There was another advert immediately after and the list of invited guests was almost exactly the same as the list in the previous advert.

The members of the donation circuit included Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Chief Sunny Odogwu, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, Chief Razak Okoya, Prince Adedapo Tejuosho, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, Prince Adekunle Ojora, Chief Onwuka Kalu (Onwuka Inter-Biz), Alhaji Ahmed Mai Deribe, Chief Michael Ibru, Dr Alex Ibru, Chief Sunny Okogwu, Chief Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, Alhaji Grema Mohammed, Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe, Alhaji Isyaku Rabiu, Dr Olusola Saraki, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, etc.

Members of the original committee that was set up by President Babangida to build a new national stadium in Abuja were drawn from members of the donation circuit. Chief MKO Abiola was the chairman and chiefs Sunny Odogwu, Gabriel Igbinedion, etc. were members of the committee (I can still remember the news item about the inauguration of the committee on the Network News). The committee was charged with raising funds for the stadium, selecting a location for the stadium, etc.

The president, who was the visitor to the federal universities, often attended convocations and fund raising events at these universities and he usually donated some money (usually millions of naira) on behalf of the Federal Government and he usually made a second donation (usually thousands of naira) on behalf of himself and his family. The president also sometimes donated money to groups like PMAN and the Nigerian Bar Association.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi sued President Babangida because of these donations. He said that the other members of the donation circuit were private people who were donating their own money, but the president was donating government money. “Were the funds that were donated in the budget? What gave the president the right to spend money that was not in the budget?”

Sometimes, when the event was a book launch, one of the members of the donation circuit would buy a large number of the books and donate them to the libraries of all universities in Nigeria (or the libraries of all secondary schools in Nigeria).

Chief MKO Abiola attended a lot of these events. Quite often in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the first item on the 9 o’clock news was about President Babangida, while the second item was often about Chief Abiola. I remember a particular day that they showed him attending an event in one city and then the next news item was about another event that he attended in another town on that same day and we were wondering how he went from one event to the other. Well, they showed him getting into a helicopter at the end of the second news item, so he flew by helicopter from one event to the other. Chief Abiola donated to schools, churches, mosques, charities, etc. He donated to causes and institutions across the whole of Nigeria, from Lagos to Maiduguri, from Calabar to Sokoto, from Kano to Port Harcourt and everywhere in between.

These events were not without their controversies and strange incidents.

The protocol back in the day was that the doors were locked whenever either President Babangida or Admiral Aikhomu arrived at the venue of an event and nobody is allowed in or out until either the president or the CGS is ready to leave. There was an event at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, a regular venue for these fund raising events back in the day. Both Admiral Aikhomu and President Babangida were already in the hall. Chief MKO Abiola arrived late and the SSS guards at the door refused to allow him into the hall. He identified himself, showed them his invitation card and did everything that he could to get in, but they would not allow anyone in, no matter who the person was. There was commotion at the door. He was eventually able to give a message to someone that was already in the hall and the person got the message to Admiral Aikhomu. The CGS sent his ADC to tell the guards at the door to let Chief Abiola in.

(This is one of two incidents that Chief Abiola had with security agencies c1992. The other was the incident that involved Deji Abiola and an Air Force officer in Ikeja).

There was a funny incident that occurred at one of these events. Alhaji Aminu Dantata was often invited to these events, but he was not a regular member of the donation circuit. He only attended the events occasionally. I remember what happened at an occasion that he attended.

Chief Abiola had already announced his donation before Dantata was invited to make his donation. Alhaji Dantata’s donation was slightly higher than Chief Abiola’s. Sometime later Chief Abiola came back to the microphone and announced that he was going to pledge more money later.

This particular incident is not connected to Chief Abiola in any way, but it was probably the most bizarre incident to happen on the donation circuit.

I was ill and a lot of people came to check up on me. It was a Saturday and the TV was on and the NTA News came on while we were watching it. There was a report about one of these fund raising events. It was a small event, only one of the members of the donation circuit was present and that was Chief Sunny Okogwu (not to be confused with Chief Sunny Odogwu).

They announced the amount of money that he donated and one of the women that came to see me screamed. It was a crazy amount of money. “Where did he get that kind of money?” she shouted.

That incident dominated the headlines the next day and then came an explanation from Chief Okogwu. (I can’t remember the exact amounts, so the figures here are just for illustration purposes). He said that the organisers of the event wanted to raise 50 million naira for a project. The organisers probably did not expect him to actually attend the event. When they saw him at the event, they jacked up the figure to 200 million naira and tried to cajole him to donate a lot of money. This angered him and he decided to punish the organisers. He announced that he was donating 1 billion naira, but, in actual fact, he did not intent to give them a kobo.

Chief Abiola’s donations resulted in the construction of at least 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries and 24 water projects in states across Nigeria. He was the grand patron of 149 societies and associations and he was conferred with 197 chieftaincy titles from 68 communities across Nigeria. He was also conferred with honorary degrees by many universities around the world.

naptu2:
The origin of the ban on spraying

1980s

I attended a party at the official residence of a very senior government official in 1985 or '86. When it was time for the dance, the MC announced that there would be no spraying because spraying was not allowed. I thought that I understood why. My thought was that they did not want any ostentatious displays of wealth. That was in line with the situation in the country at the time.

From then on I heard similar announcements at parties that were held by government officials.

Dirty and mutilated notes in the 1990s and early 2000s

Fastforward to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nigerians had been complaining about the poor quality of naira notes since the end of the 1990s. They complained that naira notes were dirty, torn and that in some cases you could barely read what's written on them. At that time (Joseph Sanusi era) the CBN put pressure on banks to receive old naira notes and forward them to it for destruction (Nigerians were complaining that banks were rejecting old naira notes).

Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo and the change

Then came Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo. Professor Soludo gave a speech in which he complained that the CBN was spending too much money to destroy mutilated notes and print new ones. He complained about the way that Nigerians treated bank notes. He reminded people that it was illegal to mishandle currency notes and he said that he was going to propose an amendment to the law to ensure that people who mishandle naira notes were severely punished.

Adverts

The CBN then released adverts to educate Nigerians about naira notes. You might remember them. The adverts were very detailed and explained every single situation properly. I’m going to try and explain them from memory.

1) Spraying: Do you want to show appreciation to a musician? Don’t paste naira notes on his forehead (where they will react with his sweat), don’t allow it to drop to the floor and react with dirt, don’t allow people to step and dance on it.

Instead, put the money in an envelope and go up and give it to the musician.

2) Carrying money: Don’t put naira notes in your bra where they will react with your sweat. Don’t squeeze naira notes and stuff them in your pockets. Get a wallet and put them neatly in the wallet.

3) Trading: Are you a trader/hawker? Don’t squeeze naira notes, don’t stuff them in your wrapper/pockets. Get a waist pouch and place them neatly in the pouch. Ensure that your hands are clean before you handle the naira. Don’t get blood or other liquids on the naira.

4) Church: Don’t squeeze naira notes into the collection box/basket. Put them in an envelope and place them neatly into the box/basket.

5) Selling change: Don’t sell naira notes. It is an offence. (Some people sell lower denomination notes [aka change] at parties, so that people will have money to spray).

6) Writing: Do you want to make calculations and write down important things? Don’t write on the naira, get a notepad.

All these scenarios were dramatised in the adverts (I’m sure that I have forgotten some of them).

The CBN said that the naira was a national symbol and people must treat it with respect.

Polymer notes:

You might remember that this was also one of the reasons that Professor Soludo introduced polymer notes. It was said that the polymer (plastic) notes would not get torn and would not absorb liquids as easily as the paper notes. It was also more difficult to write on the plastic notes.

Enforcement

The CBN act was amended to include jail terms for people who mishandle naira notes.

However, on one hand, some people expressed scepticism. Would the Central Bank go to all parties at weekends to arrest people that were spraying and selling change? They said that it was impossible to enforce.

On the other hand, some bloggers and rumour mongers created scare stories about policemen invading parties and arresting people.

Flagrancy

As stated above, the CBN/EFCC/ICPC cannot go to all parties every weekend and arrest every single person that sprays or sells money. They can’t arrest everybody that puts naira notes in their bra or stuffs them in their pocket.

Yet many people have been arrested and prosecuted for committing these offences in the past 17 years. How come?

Bobrisky was arraigned on a three count charge, that means he committed the offence 3 times, why wasn’t he arrested after the first or second time and why was he arrested after the third time? In fact, some people who follow these kind of events say that Bobrisky has sprayed money on more than 3 occasions. Why wasn’t he arrested all the other times? I’ll tell you what happened.

A movie producer wanted maximum publicity for her movie and she figured out a way to get it. Bobrisky was invited to the movie premiere and given an award for being the best dressed woman at the event. As expected, this caused an uproar.

The issue trended for a full week. There were many pictures, videos, stories and opinions about the incident. Many of them graced Nairaland’s homepage. The movie producer had gotten the publicity that she wanted.

In fact, the backlash was so great that the producer had to eventually admit that it was a publicity stunt (my friend had said that it was a publicity stunt right from when the first story broke).

Among the videos that trended for a week was a video of Bobrisky spraying money at the event. There was no way that it would not catch the attention of the EFCC.

A lot of people have been arrested and prosecuted for these offences in the past 17 years and if you look at them you’ll notice that they were all fragrant violations of the law.

A1) A Chinese man got angry at the Murtala Muhammed Airport and he tore over three thousand naira worth of notes right in front of security agents (Immigration, Customs, SSS). He was arrested by the SSS and handed over to the EFCC. He was prosecuted and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

https://www.efcc.gov.ng/efcc/news-and-information/news-release/8080-court-jails-chinese-two-years-for-naira-mutilation

Another actress was spraying money at an event and the video went viral. This was at a time that the government was very sensitive about the notes because they had just been redesigned and were scarce. Of course she was arrested and prosecuted.

https://www.nairaland.com/7553630/efcc-arrests-oluwadarasimi-omoseyin-over

A man became famous for creating jewelry made of naira and kobo coins. That fame was his problem. Of course he was arrested.

https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2023/5/currency-mutilation-man-jailed-for-using-nigerian-coins-to-make-jewelry-2.html

There were also some people that were selling new naira notes at a party in Ilorin at a time when the notes had been redesigned and were scarce. They were also arrested.


So as you can see and as you will see when I share more articles and stories, many people have been arrested and prosecuted for breaking this law before Bobrisky was arrested.

CodeTemplarr:
Apologies rejected. He must do as poprisky did. Jail time baby.

naptu2:
Siraheem @SIRAHEEM7

https://x.com/SIRAHEEM7/status/1877617587304923153?t=bria66Xcy-Kt6UN7ub6grg&s=19[/quote]Is public apologies from these thieves for their crimes now the new thing? The other time, a federal law maker threatened with impunity to make someone disappear and nothing will happen despite seeing he was live recorded. And true, nothing happened. He offered chatgpt prepared apology and all is forgotten.

Now this...

lexy2014:
that is N1.5m and counting for spraying.

why then was the police man arrested?

Myrepublic:
He was arrested because na only him abuse the money,and his father is not an industrialist or a billionaire

RealLordZeus:
What is good for Bob risky is good for Okoya

naptu2:
https://www.thecable.ng/breaking-efcc-invites-okoyas-sons-over-abuse-of-naira-in-viral-video/