Nigerian musician Azeez Adeshina Fashola, famously called, Naira Marley landed in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael AKA Zlatan Ibile, Tiamiu Abdulrahman Kayode, Adewunmi Adeyanju Moses and Abubakar Musa on May 10 following an early morning raid at Ikate, Lekki of Lagos State.
The anti-graft agency saddled with the task of investigating financial crimes, such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering, confirmed their arrest in an official statement made available to the press. “The EFCC Lagos Zonal Office, arrested two fast-rising Nigerian musicians – Afeez Fashola (aka Naira Marley) & Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael (aka Zlatan) in connection with alleged case of internet fraud & money laundering, the statement read.
Four days after their arrest, rapper Zlatan Ibile and others were granted bail, but Naira Marley was behind for intense grilling, provided information that landed him in court for fraud and other charges that amassed to 11-count charges.
On Naira Marley’s seventh day in EFCC’s custody, his management released an official press statement to address his arrest, they said EFCC is only using the singer as a scapegoat, with claims that the items caught with him were borrowed items. “His reputation is being tainted and he’s been used as the poster boy for fraud. Cyber-crime is a serious issue in Nigeria and is something the government is actively tackling, as they should, however, their efforts to persecute Naira is based on a cheeky song and questionable items found on a borrowed item isn’t fair.
“Naira Marley was found with an item that does not belong to him. Items retrieved were borrowed so he can upload music, videos and records whilst visiting Nigeria. Naira does not believe he is above the law, he made a few comments that did not sit well with the authorities and they are using him as a scapegoat to show their strict stance on cyber-crime. Naira has been in custody for over five days,” said the statement in part.
The question therein is, why did the talent company wait so long before addressing her client’s crisis?
Before his arrest, Naira Marley made an outrageous statement in support of fraud, this EFCC said is unconnected to his arrest. Reverberation of his public support for internet fraud, also known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’, littered the streets of social media with different interpretations.
Since then, questions started trailing his persona, his music career became dangling (what many mistook for upsurge), without him noticing the looming havoc, until he officially became a suspect of fraud. Even, his music, ‘Am I A Yahoo Boy’ didn’t do much to help his situation, he scripted himself in the music video of the song as a yahoo boy suspect who was arrested and later allowed to walk free. Nonetheless, what stands to be his present reality seems unalike.
The 11 charges levied against him by the EFCC read in part, “That you, Azeez Adeshina Fashola, aka Naira Marley, and Raze (still at large), on or about the 11th day of December 2018, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to use Access card 42658840359191132 issued to persons other than you in a bid to obtain gain and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(1)(b) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 33(2) of the Same Act.
“That you, Azeez Adeshina Fashola, aka Naira Marley, and Raze (still at large), on or about the 10th day of May 2019, within the jurisdiction of this honorable court, with intent to defraud possessed, counterfeit card 4921819410257431 issued to Timea Fedorne Tatar and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 33(9) of Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015.”
Naira Marley is expected to appear at Lagos High Court today to clear himself off the charges EFCC placed against him. Is he going to be convicted or acquitted? The answer lies in the hands of the court.
If he gets convicted, this may be the end of his music career as anyone or company dealing with him would be forced to put extra security checks in place, that’s if they will want to risk their image to deal with ex-convict.
However, if Naira Marley gets acquitted, he’ll be well celebrated by his folks in the music industry, which means it will be an offence for anyone to refer to him as a yahoo boy. But, will this deem his public comment on why youths that are into internet fraud should be supported, correct? We’ll leave you to this.