A Nigerian court Monday jailed a popular make-up artist for six months for abusing the national currency by throwing bank notes in the air at his wedding, the anti-graft agency said.
Celebrating with bank notes, known as “spraying”, is common at Nigerian weddings and parties, but prohibited by law for insulting the national naira currency.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement that a federal high court in the northern city of Kano jailed Abdullahi Musa Huseini, also known as Amuscap, for six months for naira abuse.
It said he threw one hundred 1,000 naira notes, together worth about $63, at his wedding in December. Huseini “willfully defaced and abused the naira notes”, it added.
Since last year, the EFCC has been enforcing a 2007 law that outlaws abuse of the naira.
The agency has targeted several celebrities, while critics say the law is being selectively enforced. The showering of naira notes over dancing brides and grooms is often a highpoint at Nigerian weddings and parties.
A court last year sentenced a transgender woman known as Bobrisky to six months in jail for throwing banknotes at a film premiere. Actor Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was jailed for six months last year after she was filmed “spraying” and walking on banknotes.
