Pascal Okechukwu aka Cubana Chief Priest could be jailed for at least six months for allegedly abusing the naira.
The socialite businessman was arrested on Monday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, operatives, and has since ben detained in their Lagos facility.
Okechukwu’s arrest has further hallmarked EFCC clampdown on suspected abusers of naira, following the conviction, last week, of Olanrewaju Okuneye aka Bobrisky by the commission.
The magazine reports that the cross-dresser was sentenced to six months imprisonment, without an option of fine for tampering with the national currency by Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The anti-graft agency said Okechukwu would be arraigned in the court before the end of the week.
According to the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, the Night club owner will be arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on three counts charge bordering on abuse of naira, by allegedly spraying and tampering with the nation’s currency at a social event, contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.
in a suit filed on April 4, 2024, by Rotimi Oyedepo, a senior advocate on behalf of EFCC, Pascal Okechukwu, allegedly on February 13, 2024, at Eko Hotel, within the jurisdiction of the court, while dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, by spraying same for two hours, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.
One of the charges read: “That you, Okechukwu Pascal, sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 (Five Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”
If convicted, Okechukwu faces not less that six months in jail.
Meanwhile, it was learned that the fear of arrest by the EFCC has gripped other prominent Nigerians who had in recent past abused the naira by spraying the currency in parties and other social events.
The spraying of naira and other currencies is commonplace at Nigeria’s social events.
