Man Bags 4 Years Imprisonment For Refusing Naira, Selling In Dollars

• A man has been sentenced to jail for refusing to accept the legal tender of Nigeria.

• The accused was said to have sold a jewelry, and refused to collect naira, but dollars.

• He was further sentenced to four years in jail with an option of over 600k fine.

An High Court sitting in Lagos state has sentenced a man to four years Imprisonment after being found guilty of not accepting naira as a means of payment.

The accused, Uzondu Precious Chimaobi, a jewelry merchant was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on February 5, 2025 at an High court in Ikoyi, Lagos state.

One of the counts reads

“That you, Precious Chimaobi Uzondu, on the 10th of December 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, refused to accept Naira (Nigeria legal tender) by accepting the sum of $5700 ( Five Thousand Seven Hundred USD) as a means of payment for a purchase of a cartier diamond bracelet with serial number (12345678) and you, thereby , committed an offence contrary to Section 20 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007.”

Chimaobi however pleaded no guilty to the charge.

The EFCC proceeded to present a witness to the court, Owolabi Oyarekhua Jude, an operative of the EFCC.

Speaking, the prosecution counsel, H.U. Kofarnaisa, Jude told the court that

“the Commission received intelligence on the activities of a jewelry company called Unlimited Jewellers Limited, “whose owner is one Uzondu Precious Chimaobi. 

The Company, which deals in jewelry at Atlantic Mall, Chevron Drive, Lekki, Lagos intentionally tags and sells its products in Dollars as against the CBN Act, 2007 ,which stipulates Naira as the only legal tender in Nigeria.

Subsequently, a covert operation was carried out , where an undercover operative of the Commission disguised as a customer to purchase a Diamond Nail bracelet that was tagged $6000 and bought it for $5700.

The company refused to receive Naira and demanded Dollars as a means of payment. The payment was made and receipt was issued in Dollars . The owner of the company was arrested and taken to the Commission’s office.”

However, on the third hearing, the accused changed his ‘not guilty ‘ statement to ‘guilty’

Delivering judgement, the presiding judge, Justice Alexander Owoeye found the defendant guilty and gave him an option of fine of N50,000( Fifty Thousand Naira) on count one.

The Judge also sentenced him to four years imprisonment, with an option of fine in the sum of N600,000 on count two.

He is also to forfeit his Cartier diamond watch to the federal government.

45-Year-Old Man Sodomize Two Teenage Boys In Kwara

The police force in Kwara state have arrested a man for alleged sexual assault in the state.

The elderly man was said to have sodomized two young boys in the area.