Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court has convicted and sentenced a social media influencer, Okoye Blessing Nwakaego, to three years’ imprisonment for engaging in cyber-bullying of a Nollywood actress, Eniola Badmus.
Justice Oweibo jailed the convict after she pleaded guilty to a two-count charge brought against her by the police.
The police had accused the convict and one Chimabia (now at large) of conspiring with each other between December 2022 and July 2023 to commit a felony, to wit: cyberstalking.
The convict and Chimabia were also said to have knowingly caused the transmission of communication via Tiktok, gossip mill tv, remedy blog and other social media network with her mobile line number 09125225742, which is grossly offensive and false and to cause annoyance, inconvenience, danger, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, and needless anxiety to the prejudice of one Eniola Badmus.
The police prosecutor, Nosa Uhumwangho, insisted that the offence is contrary to and punishable under sections 27 and 24(1)(b)(2)(a)(c)of the Cybercrimes (prohibition, prevention, et. c) Act 2015.
Based on the plea of the convict, Uhumwangho reviewed the facts of the case. He told the court that Blessings, in her confessional statement to the police, said she made the video following the prompting of a male friend.
The prosecutor further claimed that, “Blessing said a friend who claimed to know Eniola Badmus narrated the false story to her and that she, in turn, narrated the story to a male friend Chimabia (now at large), who asked her to do a video of the false storyline that Eniola Badmus specialises in introducing young Nigerian girls to men.
“She said after making the video, Chimabia gave her N200,000 and asked her to post it on her Tiktok from where other platforms picked it,” he told the court.
The prosecutor told the court that over three million viewers viewed the maligning video online.
Uhumwangho also tendered the petition written by Eniola Badmus, asking the police to investigate the matter and bring those behind the falsehood to book. Blessing statement was also tendered and admitted in evidence.
The prosecutor then urged the court to convict the defendant as charged and pass an appropriate sentence.
However, the defence counsel urged the judge to temper Justice with mercy, stating that the convict is a first-time offender who did not waste the court’s time.
The lawyer also told the court that the convict had been remorseful as she had already pulled down the offensive video and promised never to be involved in such an act in the future.
After listening to the convict’s counsel’s plea, Justice Oweibo, in his judgment, sentenced Nwakaego to three years imprisonment on the two-count charge but he was given an option of a N150,000 fine.
