OPay: lady says she apologised, deleted fake post before arrest

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Hafsat Abubakar, the woman arrested over the alleged creation and circulation of a forged document falsely suggesting that fintech company OPay was shutting down its operations, has said she deleted the post and publicly apologised after the company issued a notice describing it as fake.

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Abubakar disclosed this while speaking to journalists while being paraded at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, saying she was arrested five days after apologising following a petition by OPay.

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She said, “When I saw the notice immediately after they made it, I deleted the post immediately and rendered an apology on the same day. They gave me an hour to take it down and apologise before 11:59pm on August 31, and I did. I took the post down around 8pm and made an apology before 11pm.

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“After I apologised, about five days later, which was on September 4, I was arrested by the Nigeria Police at home. When I asked what my offence was, they said OPay had filed a petition against me and that they were also investigating the case, so I had to come to Abuja with them from Zaria, Kaduna State.”

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She added, “OPay posted a notice on their official pages. I saw the OPay notice on Twitter, so I saw the post where they mentioned my name and my handle, @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA. That was where they called my attention on Twitter to take it down and render a public apology, which I made the same day.

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“I told them that I never knew the information was false. That was why I posted it on my page, and I regretted any inconvenience caused by spreading the false information.”

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Asked whether she resisted deleting the post or issuing the apology, Abubakar said, “No, there wasn’t.”

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She advised Nigerians to verify information before posting or resharing content on social media.

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“My advice to the whole of Nigeria is to first verify before posting anything, either posting or resharing. We have to verify it and stop posting,” she stated.

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PUNCH Online had reported that the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre arrested Abubakar over the circulation of a fake notice claiming that OPay Digital Services Limited had shut down its operations.

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The NPF-NCCC said Abubakar was arrested on September 4, 2026, after its operatives traced the false notice to an X account linked to her.

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Speaking during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, said operatives of the NPF-NCCC commenced digital forensic analysis and online tracing after the notice was circulated.

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The exercise, according to the police spokesperson, was aimed at establishing the source of the notice and identifying those responsible for its dissemination.

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He said that the investigation subsequently traced the publication to the X handle @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, which was linked to Abubakar.

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Iniedu stated that Abubakar was subsequently arrested by operatives of the NPF-NCCC.

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