EFCC arrests social media content creator for abusing naira

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a social media content creator in Kaduna for allegedly abusing naira notes, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

According to the press statement, EFCC arrested Muhammed Sa’ad following a video he uploaded on his TikTok and Instagram account @youngcee0066, showing him throwing naira notes on the floor and stepping on them.

Mr Sa’ad, speaking in Hausa, was also said to have challenged EFCC officers to arrest him if they could.

Checks by PREMIUM TIMES indicated that the video has been taken down on both Instagram and TikTok platforms.

Operatives of the commission in Kaduna traced the social media content creator and picked him up at Tudun Wada, Kaduna State, for questioning.

The EFCC also noted that Mr Sa’ad would be charged in court following the completion of the interrogation.

Spraying and matching naira notes is an offence in Nigeria.

Section 21(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 criminalises the spraying, dancing or matching of the naira notes, anyone guilty of this is liable to not less than six months imprisonment or a fine of nothing less than N50,000.

EFCC actions against naira abuse

The EFCC has continued to crack down against abuse and mutilation of naira notes in the past year.

A case that has come to symbolise the efforts is that of crossdresser Bobrisky, who was arrested, following a viral video clip showing him spraying and flaunting wads of new naira notes on 24 March 2024 at the premiere of a movie, ‘Ajakaju’.

EFCC subsequently arraigned the Instagram celebrity before the Federal High Court in Lagos on 5 April, when he pleaded guilty to four charges preferred against him.

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The court, after Bobrisky pled to the charges, the judge convicted him and subsequently sentenced him to six months imprisonment.

In March, PREMIUM TIMES reported the arrest of an official of the Edo State Government, Kelly Okungbowa, popularly known as Ebo Stone, over alleged naira abuse. Mr Okungbowa was arrested following a viral video where he was seen spraying and mutilating naira at a bar.

In the same month, popular Kano TikTok influencer Murja Kunya was arrested for the same crime. She was arrested for allegedly spraying naira notes for fun during her stay in a hotel room at Tahir Guest Palace in Kano.

But critics have said the EFCC is selective in going after offenders.