Hafsat Abubakar, the woman arrested for allegedly creating and circulating a forged document that falsely claimed fintech company OPay was shutting down, has stated that she deleted the post and issued a public apology after OPay released an official statement debunking the rumour.
Speaking to journalists at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, Abubakar explained that she was arrested five days after apologising, following a petition filed by OPay. “When I saw OPay’s official notice, I immediately deleted my post and apologised on the same day. They asked me to remove it and apologise before 11:59pm on August 31, and I complied, taking down the post around 8pm and issuing my apology before 11pm,” she said.
Abubakar added, “Despite my apology, I was arrested at my home by the Nigeria Police on September 4. When I asked the reason, I was told OPay had lodged a petition and that an investigation was ongoing, so I was brought to Abuja from Zaria, Kaduna State.”
She further explained that OPay had tagged her personal X (formerly Twitter) handle, @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, in their public notice, drawing her attention to the post and prompting her to remove it and apologise. “I told them I didn’t know the information was false when I posted it, and I regret any inconvenience caused,” she said.
Abubakar denied ever resisting the company’s request to delete the post or issue an apology.
She urged Nigerians to always verify information before posting or sharing content on social media, saying, My advice to everyone is to verify information before posting or resharing. We need to stop spreading unverified news.
Earlier, PUNCH Online reported that the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) arrested Abubakar after tracing the origin of the fake notice to an X account linked to her.
During a press briefing in Abuja, Force Public Relations Officer CSP Ani Iniedu explained that police operatives used digital forensic analysis and online tracing to identify the source of the document. The investigation ultimately led to the X handle @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, resulting in Abubakar’s arrest by the NPF-NCCC.
