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A 35-year-old woman, Ifeoma Vivian Nwafor, has been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged conspiracy and cyberstalking involving the Managing Director of Eleganza Industries Limited, Mrs Folashade Okoya.
Nwafor, a native of Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, was charged with three counts by the Inspector-General of Police over alleged online publications concerning Mrs Okoya, wife of billionaire industrialist and Aare of Lagos, Alhaji Razaq Akanni Okoya.
The defendant, a graduate of Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Osun State, pleaded not guilty to all three counts when the charges were read to her before Justice Deinde Dipeolu.
Following her plea, the court granted her bail in the sum of N3 million, with two sureties in like sum.
Justice Dipeolu ordered that the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction, with one of them required to be a blood relation of the defendant.
The sureties were also directed to provide evidence of three years’ tax payment, their National Identification Numbers (NINs) and photographs, as well as depose to affidavits of compliance.
The judge further ordered Nwafor to depose to an affidavit undertaking to make herself available throughout the trial.
However, pending the perfection of the bail conditions, the court ordered that she be remanded at the Kirikiri Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The case, filed as Suit No. FHC/LAG/CR/819/2026, was prosecuted by the Legal Department of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, under the supervision of CSP Adewuyi Taiwo Oyewale, Officer-in-Charge of the department.
Stanley Nwafoaku appeared for the prosecution, while O.J. Aduwa represented the defendant.
The prosecution told the court that Nwafor allegedly conspired with persons still at large and used Instagram accounts to publish what it described as offensive, false, malicious and calculated material against Mrs Okoya.
After the charges were read and the defendant pleaded not guilty, the prosecution urged the court to remand her in custody and adjourn the case for trial.
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Defence counsel, however, applied for bail pursuant to Sections 35(4), 36(1) and 36(5) of the Constitution, urging the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.
Aduwa assured the court that Nwafor would make herself available for trial whenever required.
The prosecution did not oppose the bail application, having regard to the nature of the alleged offences.
In the first count, the police alleged that Nwafor and others still at large, sometime in June 2026, at Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, conspired to commit a felony.
The prosecution alleged that the defendant participated in the publication of material on Instagram through the handles @cutie_juis and @truestorieswithifeomafans, with the alleged intention of causing “annoyance, injury, fear, intimidation, enmity and/or needless anxiety” to Mrs Okoya.
It further alleged that photographs of Mrs Okoya were published alongside material concerning her.
The alleged offence was brought under Section 516 of the Criminal Law of the Federation.
In counts two and three, the prosecution accused Nwafor of using Instagram and an online link to publish statements and photographs concerning Mrs Okoya which it described as derogatory and calculated to expose her to “mockery, ridicule, gossip, suspicion and scandal.”
The allegations in the two counts were brought under provisions of Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015.
Nwafor has denied all three allegations by pleading not guilty, and the court has yet to determine the merits of the case.
Justice Dipeolu adjourned the matter until November 8 for trial.
