The Nigerian Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) has announced the arrest of a 27-year-old woman, Hafsat Abubakar, over the creation and circulation of a forged document falsely claiming that fintech company OPay was shutting down its operations.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Anietie Iniedu, said the arrest followed a formal petition filed by OPay Digital Services Limited on August 31, 2026, after a document titled “Official Note” went viral online, claiming OPay would halt all transactions and account services indefinitely from September 1 and urging customers to withdraw their money beforehand.
Using digital forensic tools, investigators traced the publication to an X account, @haifah_er_abba, registered and operated by Abubakar, a graduate of Library and Information Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. She was arrested on September 4, 2026.
Speaking to journalists while being paraded at Force Headquarters, Abubakar said she deleted the post and publicly apologised the same day OPay flagged it as fake, within the one-hour deadline the company had given her, and was arrested five days after her apology. OPay’s Head of Corporate Communications, Folayemi Joshua, had earlier dismissed the claim as “completely false,” confirming the company remained fully operational.
A Rumour Nigeria Has Seen Before: Past Fake Shutdown Scares at Banks and Fintechs
This is not an isolated incident. In July 2026, Access Bank had to publicly debunk a similar fake shutdown report circulating online, warning that creating and spreading false information capable of causing panic or eroding confidence in a financial institution is punishable under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.
That law itself has a contested history. Its earlier version was amended in February 2024 after the ECOWAS Court of Justice ruled that the original Section 24 was incompatible with regional and international free expression guarantees, meaning Nigeria’s current legal tool against this kind of misinformation was itself reshaped by a prior finding that it had gone too far.
Why a Single Fake Post Can Shake an Entire Financial System
A convincing-looking shutdown notice is dangerous because of how deeply embedded platforms like OPay now are in Nigerians’ daily financial lives. OPay holds a Central Bank of Nigeria mobile money operator licence, upgraded to national status in January 2026, and customer wallet balances on the platform fall under Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation cover.
For individual users, panic caused by a fake notice can mean rushed withdrawals, transaction fees, or missed bill payments made in a hurry to “beat” a shutdown that was never real. For the company, a forged notice reaching half a million screens within minutes represents a genuine liquidity risk, not just a reputational embarrassment, since a platform holding tens of millions of small customer balances depends on public confidence to function.
Nationally, repeated incidents like this threaten to undermine trust in Nigeria’s fast-growing fintech sector at a time when digital financial inclusion is a stated government priority, and when foreign investors are watching how reliably Nigeria’s payment infrastructure holds up under pressure.
Justified Deterrence or Harsh Overreach? The Debate Over Arresting Hafsat Abubakar
Those who support the arrest argue:
A forged document made to look like an official company statement is a serious act, regardless of how quickly it was deleted, since screenshots and shares can outlive the original post.
Financial misinformation carries systemic risk that ordinary rumours do not, given how quickly panic can spread through a platform used by millions.
A clear, publicised consequence discourages others from creating similar hoaxes targeting other banks or fintechs in the future.
Those who question the response argue:
Abubakar deleted the post and apologised within the company’s own one-hour deadline, raising the question of whether arrest, days after voluntary compliance, was proportionate.
The law used to prosecute this kind of case has already been found, in an earlier form, to conflict with free expression protections, and critics worry about how broadly it could be applied to online posts and jokes.
Treating a deleted, apologised-for post the same as deliberate, sustained disinformation campaigns may not distinguish between genuine malice and a mistake someone tried to correct.
Stopping Financial Rumours Before They Spark a Bank Run
Fintech companies and banks could reduce the damage of these rumours by maintaining a fast, well-publicised verification channel, so customers have an obvious, trusted place to check a claim within minutes rather than acting on panic. Media literacy campaigns specifically about recognising forged “official notices,” including common signs like generic formatting or unofficial distribution channels, could also help slow the spread before a post goes viral.
On the legal side, clearer sentencing guidelines that distinguish between a first-time poster who quickly retracts and apologises and a person running a deliberate, repeated disinformation campaign would help the law’s deterrent effect land where it is most needed, without appearing to punish contrition as harshly as malice.
What We Think About Punishing a Retracted Rumour So Firmly
We understand why the police and OPay treated this seriously. A forged shutdown notice hitting a platform that holds the savings of millions of ordinary Nigerians is not a harmless joke, and the potential for real financial harm is exactly why laws like this exist.
At the same time, we think the timeline here matters. Someone who deletes a false post and apologises within the deadline given to her, only to be arrested five days later, deserves a process that visibly accounts for that cooperation, not just the same treatment as someone who never took the content down at all. Nigeria needs strong deterrence against financial misinformation, but it also needs the public to trust that the law distinguishes a corrected mistake from a malicious campaign.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
