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Nigerian businessman and socialite Emeka ‘E-Money’ Okonkwo has been released after hours of interrogation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the anti-graft agency arrested E-Money at his Omole, Lagos residence on Monday night.
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The 44-year-old was taken into custody over allegations of currency mutilation and was subsequently flown to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja for questioning.
However, the socialite announced and celebrated his release on his Instagram page on Tuesday night.
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In a video he posted to celebrate his release, E-Money wore traditional clothes, with beads and a staff, posing like a king in his home.
The businessman added Emmanuel Lazarus’s ‘Thank You for Saving Me’ song to the video.
He wrote: “No tension, everywhere good, I see all your love and support. God bless you all.”
Condemnations
This newspaper gathered that Nigerians, especially internet socialite Okechukwu Pascal, known as Cubana Chief Priest and actor and comedian Ime ‘Okon Lagos’ Umoh, condemned the arrest of E-Money for currency mutilation.
Cubana Chief Priest, who was himself arrested for a similar offence in April 2024, stated in a now-deleted Instagram post that E-Money’s arrest was an attempt to silence the Southeast.
He added that despite the ongoing suppression and intimidation, the people of the East will vote for whomever they choose in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
He wrote, “This is a guy who just did everything to push up Southeast with his just concluded Homecoming concert this Easter. I knew they would come for him because they just saw his strength; they were doing this to break him and make him succumb to supporting them under duress.
“The oppression on us Igbos will never stop, but let me tell all of you we will never stop. We don’t die. We multiply more billionaires are coming up; come 2027, we will support and vote for who we want to, we won’t be broken, we will even be stronger, and we will reciprocate how we were treated with our energy, brotherhood, support, votes and affluence. E-Money, it’s nothing, brother. I have been there, and it will make you stronger. Like our Rolls Royce, it’s the location for the rich and famous as a status symbol.”
Similarly, Okon Lagos criticised E-Money’s arrest for alleged dollar mutilation, describing it as unjust and unwarranted.
He wrote on his Instagram page, “If E-money abuses the dollar on Nigerian soil, what’s wrong with it? Is the dollar not abusing the Naira every day? Why not prioritise incarcerating bad, corrupt leaders who ruin the economy and at the same time are cheerleaders while the dollar constantly abuses and pummels the Naira.”
Background
The arrest of E-Money comes four days after Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, remanded musician Terry Alexander Ejeh, known as Terry Apala, in a correctional facility over allegations of Naira mutilation.
This newspaper earlier reported that the singer, renowned for his breakthrough single ‘Champagne Showers’, was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the anti-graft agency on a one-count charge of mutilating the Naira.
During his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
READ ALSO: EFCC arrests E- Money
Justice Aluko adjourned the case until 5 May and ordered his remand at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending the determination of his bail application.
E-Money and Terry Apala are not the first celebrities to face prosecution over Naira mutilation.
They join the likes of crossdresser Bobrisky, former beauty queen Simi Gold, and Kano-based TikToker Murja Kunya, who have all been arraigned on similar charges.
