Fact-check: Whose Son’s Birthday young men were Spraying ‘Large Bundles’ of New Naira Notes ‘Recklessly?’

Fact-check: Whose Son’s Birthday young men were Spraying ‘Large Bundles’ of New Naira Notes ‘Recklessly?’

Claims: A viral video on social media shows individuals spraying bundles of new Naira notes, mostly N500 and N1000 bills, on a young man who appears to be a Special Guest at a social gathering. 

Full Text: The video was widely shared on platforms such as X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. However, it is not clear whether the video is authentic or if the money was real.

In the video, the young men could be seen dancing and hugging each other while flinging the new naira notes in the air. The video has sparked mixed reactions on social media.

The accompanying text of the viral video read : “THE GREAT OZO ENYI OKUNAENYEIFE of ABAGANA as HE Celebrates his SON’S 1st BDAY last Sunday ????????… it was a total shutdown. See what people are doing with money in this present condition of the country. Life no balance at all ???? What is this about my people. Is this the way genuine hard-working businessmen spend money… I am just curious ..”

Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had in February 2023, in a press statement clarified that “…For the avoidance of doubt, Section 21(3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 (As amended) stipulates that “spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Bank during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute an abuse and defacing of the Naira or such note and shall be punished under the law by fines or imprisonment or both…”

One of the videos on TikTok lamented “what people are doing with money in this present economic strangulation.”

Verification: In order to verify the authenticity of the video, PRNigeria fact check team cropped one of the keyframes of the Money spraying individuals and ran a reverse image search which revealed that the video footage has been shared across virtually all the social media platforms. 

The two minutes 17 seconds video went viral in the first week of February 2023.

Many people have reacted to the video, one of such is Rolake Rosiji Alakija on Facebook saying…”How come Nigerians have not been able to get to the secret of how these youths make such humongous money. All these lavish parties, just to welcome a one year old child to life’s tortuous and elaborate journey? There is definitely something, they are not telling us.”

Another TikTok user named Emmy @prophetemman, has this caption “All Lagos Igbos boys outside”

Further investigation revealed that the individual in the video is from Anambra State, in the eastern part of Nigeria. The man’s name is Chukwujekwu Ekekwe, and he is known as ‘Ozo Enyi Okunaenyeife of Abagana’, which means ‘the lion that protects Abagana’.

Ozo Enyi Okunaenyife is a traditional title given to someone who has made a significant contribution to the economic development of Abagana, a town in Anambra State. 

Conclusion: Based on our investigation, we can confirm that the individual in the video is indeed Chukwujekwu Ekekwe, an indigene of Anambra State who celebrated his son’s birthday at his home in Eti-Osa Local Government, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

While it’s not possible to verify the accuracy of all details in the video, we can confirm that the individual’s identity and the location of the event are accurate.

PRNigeria