The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin has convicted and sentenced three men to various prison terms for being in possession of counterfeit Naira notes. The convicts—Olaitan Dina, a 46-year-old aluminium fabricator from Maraba in Ilorin; Opeyemi Jeremiah, a bakery worker from Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State; and Adebayo Mayowa Abiola from Osi in Ekiti State—were each handed jail sentences by Justice Abimbola Awogboro.
The trio was initially apprehended by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and later transferred to the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation.
According to the EFCC, the counterfeit notes recovered from the suspects bore matching serial numbers, a clear indication of their fake origin. Following the investigation, each suspect was arraigned separately before the court on different charges, to which they all pleaded guilty.
During the trial, EFCC counsel, Aliyu Adebayo, presented Detective Abdulhakeem Sani Umar as a witness. Umar informed the court that the fake notes had been sent to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja for forensic analysis, which confirmed their counterfeit status.
The prosecution also tendered the fake currency and the confessional statements of the defendants as evidence, urging the court to convict them accordingly.
Delivering judgment, Justice Awogboro ruled that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The issue of Naira counterfeiting is a serious crime against the law and the society. I wonder what this country is turning into. Many are involved in drug abuse, some in cybercrime, and now others in counterfeiting. The court must pass a sentence that will serve as a deterrent,” she said.
The judge sentenced Olaitan Dina to 18 months in prison, while Opeyemi Jeremiah and Adebayo Abiola each received 15-month jail terms. She ruled that the sentences would take effect from October 15, 2025, and noted that there would be no option of fine.
All counterfeit notes recovered during the investigation were ordered to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
