In its fresh fight against the dollarization of the economy, the Ilorin Regional Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has indicted a 46-year-old Bureau de Change (BDC) operator, Muhammad Inuwa, for refusing to accept Naira as legal tender and operating without a valid license.
Inuwa was arraigned and sentenced to six months imprisonment by Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, after the court found him guilty of the two-count charge leveled against him by the EFCC.
A statement by Babatunde Oyedele, one of the accused, reads: “You, Muhammad Inuwa, on or about the 25th day of July, 2024 within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, refused to accept Naira (Nigeria legal tender) by accepting the sum of $100 dollars (one hundred dollars) as a means of payment for the purchase of a jalabiya (a loose fitting traditional garment) and a wrist watch and thereby committing an offense contrary to section 20(5) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007.”
Similarly, the second count of the charge reads: “That you, Muhammad Inuwa, between July 2024 and December 2024 in Lokoja, Kogi State, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, carried on other financial business: Bureau de Change Business without a valid license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, contrary to section 57(5) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 and punishable under section 57(5) (b) of the same Act.”
However, when the charges were read to the defendant he pleaded guilty. Following his plea, the prosecution counsel, Innocent Mbachi, called the investigating officer, Babatunde Olotu, to review the facts of the case and outline the circumstances surrounding the defendant's arrest. Mbachi then urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant in line with his plea bargain agreement of January 15, 2026.
In his judgment, Justice Awogboro found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to six months imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, with an option of a fine of N250,000 (Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Naira) on each count.
