JUST IN: ICPC arrests Twitter user for selling new naira notes

An Abuja-based 'serial entrepreneur' has been arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for offering to sell the new Naira notes on social media.

The accused, who operates with the handle @SimisolaGold and Twitter name Simisola of Lala, was identified as Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin.

Acting on intelligence, officials of the commission sought out and promptly arrested the suspect who is believed to have accomplices in the financial services sector.

The spokesperson of the commission, Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, disclosed in a statement on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, that Omoseyin was cooperating with the investigation but noted she was yet to mention other members of the syndicate.

The statement partly read: “Omoseyin Oluwadarasimi Esther, a social media “serial entrepreneur” who deals in skincare, sales of fuel, facilitation of foreign travels through visa acquisitions, and other businesses, seized the opportunity of the scarcity of the new naira notes to openly market the new notes.

“It is believed that she is in collusion with key elements in the financial services sector diverting the newly released notes away from banking halls and payment channels into a ‘black market’.”

The ICPC spokesperson further disclosed that the suspect is currently being held in the anti-graft agency's detention and has been helpful with findings on criminal trade of the nation's currency and the consequent scarcity and negative outcomes resulting from the action.

The commission noted that the operation was in furtherance of the collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria, ICPC, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (ICPC), in implementing the new cashless policy and naira redesign.