Justice F.N. Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday convicted and sentenced four persons to two and six months’ imprisonment respectively for offences bordering on illegal foreign exchange transactions and unlawful trading of naira notes.
The convicts; Ahmad Umar Baros, Aminu Umar Injay, Yusuf Suleimon, and Olasunbo Sholanke were separately arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on separate one-count charge on Thursday August 6, 2026.
The charge against Baros reads: “That you, Ahmad Umar Baros sometime in 2026 in Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, engaged in a foreign exchange transaction other than through the official foreign exchange market, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (Establishment etc) Act, 1994, and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same Act.”
Yusuf Suleimon and Olasunbo Sholanke were separately charged with the illegal sale and trading of naira notes.
One of the charges read: “That you, Yusuf Suleimon, on or about July 25, 2026, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did sell and trade in naira notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 21(4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 (as amended), and punishable under Section 21(1) of the same Act.”
They all pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their guilty pleas, prosecution counsel N.K. Ukoha, Ebuka Okongwu and U.S. Kyari reviewed the facts of the cases and urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants accordingly.
In his judgment, Justice Ogazi found all four defendants guilty and sentenced Ahmad Umar Baros to two months imprisonment while the other three were sentenced to six months imprisonment each, with the option of ₦100,000 fine each.
(Ripples)