A former presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad, has appealed to OPay Digital Services Limited to reconsider the continued detention of Haifa Abubakar, who was arrested over a viral post falsely claiming that the fintech company had shut down its operations.
Ahmad made the appeal in a post on X on Thursday, saying Abubakar had admitted her mistake and, to his understanding, complied with OPay’s request to delete the post and issue an apology.
He acknowledged that Abubakar’s action was wrong but questioned why she was arrested after allegedly complying with the company’s demands.
“From what I have followed, after her tweet went viral, OPay only asked her to take down the post and issue an apology within a specified timeframe. My understanding is that she did exactly what she was asked to do; she removed the post and apologised,” Ahmad said.
He questioned why OPay would still pursue her arrest, particularly if she had complied with the measures the company requested.
Ahmad said he would have viewed the situation differently if Abubakar had refused to delete the post or apologise.
He appealed to OPay to review the case, describing Abubakar as a young woman and student who made a mistake and subsequently took corrective steps.
“I therefore want to make a sincere and strong appeal to OPay; please, kindly look into this matter again. Haifa is a young woman and a student. She made a mistake, was called out for it, and, from what we all saw, complied with the corrective steps OPay itself requested,” he said.
Ahmad argued that keeping her in custody would serve little purpose if she had indeed complied with OPay’s demands.
He also stressed that condemning Abubakar’s action should not mean condemning her as a person, adding that accountability and compassion could coexist when someone acknowledges wrongdoing.
“We can condemn what Haifa did without condemning her as a person. We can hold people accountable for their mistakes while still showing compassion, especially when they have acknowledged the wrongdoing and complied with the remedy requested of them,” he said.
Ahmad urged OPay to release Abubakar and allow the incident to serve as a lesson rather than negatively affect the student’s future.
“OPay, please reconsider this matter. We appeal to you to have Haifa released and allow this incident to end with a lesson learned rather than a young student’s life being unnecessarily derailed,” he added.
The appeal followed a report that the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre had arrested Abubakar over the circulation of a false notice claiming that OPay had shut down its operations.
According to the NPF-NCCC, Abubakar was arrested on September 4, 2026, after investigators traced the notice to an X account linked to her.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, said in a statement on Thursday that the cybercrime centre launched a digital forensic investigation and online tracing operation following the circulation of the false notice.
The investigation reportedly traced the publication to the X handle @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, which was linked to Abubakar, leading to her arrest by police operatives.
