A make-up artist in Nigeria has been sentenced to six months in jail for abusing the country’s currency, the naira, by flinging it while dancing at his wedding celebration last December.
Abdullahi Musa Huseini, popularly known as “Amuscap” on social media, was sentenced by a high court in the northern city of Kano minutes after pleading guilty to the charge.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had been waging a campaign against the practice, saying it shows disrespect for the naira – one of the country’s most important symbols.
Amuscap is the latest Nigerian to be imprisoned for violating the 2007 Central Bank of Nigeria Act, which states that the “spraying of, dancing or [marching] on the naira” is an offence, with the punishment being no less than six months in prison or a 50,000 naira fine ($32; £25), or both.
The EFCC said that Amuscap, while dancing during the wedding celebration, “tampered” with 100,000 naira by spraying the notes.
Some social media users have reacted with outrage to the make-up artist’s sentencing, saying the punishment is too harsh, with one pointing out the hypocrisy of allowing those alleged to have siphoned off the nation’s wealth to go unpunished yet jailing a man for “spraying his own money”.
This comes after other Nigerians, including a transgender woman known as Bobrisky and actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, spent six months in prison last year for the same offence.
