Police on Friday arraigned a 19-year-old blogger Nurenorue Surpruchi before the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged cyberstalking and defamatory posts against the chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Tony Elumelu.
Surpruchi was arraigned before Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cyberstalking, bullying and defamation.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the prosecution, the defendant and others still at large allegedly used a computer network on April 5 to spread false information about Mr Elumelu.
Prosecution counsel A.G. Obi, from the Directorate of Legal Services, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Lagos, told the court that the prosecution had filed a four-count charge against the defendant.
After the charges were read, the defendant pleaded not guilty.
Counsel Obi said the prosecution had only been served with the defendant’s bail application earlier in the day and needed time to respond to it.
She asked the court to remand the defendant pending the hearing of the bail application and also requested a trial date.
Defence counsel A. Edoh confirmed that the bail application had just been served on the prosecution and asked for a short adjournment for the application to be heard.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa adjourned the matter until June 19 for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the Correctional Service.
In one of the charges, the prosecution alleged that the defendant used an X account identified as @probleiemchimkyi to publish claims that Elumelu divorced his wife Awele after DNA tests allegedly showed that none of his seven children belonged to him.
The prosecution said the post was intended to harass and damage Elumelu’s reputation.
According to the prosecution, the alleged offences contravene provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended) and the Criminal Code Act.
Earlier in May, UBA said three persons had been arrested over social media posts alleging that Tony Elumelu had divorced his wife.
In a statement issued by the bank’s group head of brand, marketing and corporate communication Alero Ladipo, UBA described the claim as false and defamatory.
The bank named the arrested suspects as Kingsley Akunemeihe, also known as @Directorkem, Chigozie Ihebom and John Nwanorue, also known as @problemchimky.
UBA said investigations were ongoing and warned that legal action would be taken against individuals or platforms involved in publishing or sharing the claim.
