The chairman of Cubana Group Obi Iyiegbu, aka Obi Cubana, has defended the spraying of naira notes at the funeral of his mother Ezinne Uche Iyiegbu last week in Oba, Anambra State.
The 46-year-old Obi owns a chain of restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and other entertainment houses.
In an interview with BBC Pidgin on Tuesday, July 20, 2021,Obi Cubana said that he could not dictate for his guests how they would spend their money.
“Why would I plan to make people lavish their money, to bathe with it? They own their money and decide how to spend it.
“Those people are not people I can tell ‘do this or do this’…but I feel that they just wanted to show me love,” he said.
According to Section 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, a person who sprays the naira risks imprisonment for a term not less than six months or a fine not less than N50,000 or to both.
For days, Obi Cubana has been a social media sensation and the rave of the moment, especially with the ‘naira rain’ at the event in Oba, a town in the Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Several videos went viral that show celebrities, business people and politicians spray money indiscriminately during a concert held after the interment of the deceased.
Many Nigerians are, however, divided on the spraying of naira, its acceptability and otherwise. Technology and financial expert, Adamu Garba, said that there was the need for the apex bank to increase advocacy and sensitisation through its Clean Notes Policy.
