Woman Arrested Over Fake OPay Shutdown Post Says She Deleted It, Apologised Before Arrest

Hafsat Abubakar, arrested over the alleged creation and circulation of a forged document falsely claiming fintech company OPay was shutting down its operations, has said she deleted the post and publicly apologised after the company flagged it as fake, adding that she was arrested five days later.

Speaking to journalists while being paraded at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, Abubakar said OPay gave her until 11:59pm on August 31 to take the post down and apologise, and she complied, removing it around 8pm and apologising before 11pm.

She said she was subsequently arrested by the Nigeria Police at her home in Zaria, Kaduna State, on September 4, five days after her apology, after being told OPay had filed a petition against her.

Abubakar maintained she did not know the information was false when she posted it and said she did not resist deleting the post or issuing the apology. She advised Nigerians to verify information before posting or resharing content on social media.

PUNCH Online had earlier reported that the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) arrested Abubakar after tracing the false notice to an X account, @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, linked to her.

Force Public Relations Officer CSP Ani Iniedu said at a Wednesday press briefing that operatives conducted digital forensic analysis and online tracing to establish the source of the notice before making the arrest.