Court Jails Three for Naira Mutilation in Sokoto

Sokoto, December 10, 2025

Justice Ahmad Mahmud of the Federal High Court sitting in Sokoto has convicted and sentenced three persons—Ahmad Abdullahi Buhari, Jamilu Bello and Yasir Muhammad Bala—to various jail terms for offences bordering on the mutilation of the Nigerian currency.

The convicts were sentenced on December 10, 2025, after pleading guilty to five-count charges of Naira mutilation, contrary to Section 21(1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act, 2007, and punishable under Section 21(3) of the same Act.

One of the charges against Jamilu Bello stated that on July 7, 2025, while dancing at a birthday party at Fixon Restaurant, Sokoto, he tampered with the sum of Twenty Thousand Naira (N20,000) by spraying the notes, an act deemed as mutilation of the Naira.
Another count revealed that Yasir Muhammad Bala, on November 8, 2025, while dancing at a birthday party at Pip Zone Hangout, opposite Sama Road in Sokoto, sprayed the sum of Forty Thousand Naira (N40,000), thereby committing the same offence.
Upon the defendants’ guilty pleas, the prosecution counsel, Dr. Aliyu Bokani Usman, urged the court to convict and sentence them in accordance with the law.

Justice Mahmud sentenced Jamilu Bello to one year imprisonment on each of the two counts against him, with an option of a One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000) fine on each count. Yasir Muhammad Bala was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of a N100,000 fine. Ahmad Abdullahi Buhari was also sentenced to one year imprisonment on each count against him, with an option of a N100,000 fine on each count.
In addition to the sentences, the court ordered all the convicts to depose to affidavits of good behaviour with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to be co-signed by their parents or guardians.

Justice Mahmud further directed that the convicts undertake community sensitization programmes in secondary schools within their communities, educating students on the dangers and consequences of cybercrime and other fraudulent activities. The sensitization exercise is to be supervised by designated EFCC officers.

The convicts were arrested after being caught spraying Naira notes at social events, an act prohibited under Nigerian law. They were subsequently charged to court, where they pleaded guilty to all counts and were accordingly convicted and sentenced.