FORMER PRESIDENTIAL AIDE APPEALS TO OPAY OVER WOMAN’S ARREST

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By:Aminat Tajudeen

Former presidential aide Bashir Ahmad has appealed to OPay Digital Services Limited to reconsider the arrest of Haifa Abubakar, who was detained 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 said while Abubakar’s action was wrong and had been widely condemned, questions remained about why she was arrested after allegedly complying with the corrective measures requested by the company.

According to him, OPay initially asked Abubakar to remove the post and apologise within a specified timeframe, which he said she did.

Ahmad said, “We all know that what Haifa did was wrong and virtually nobody supported her actions. However, I have questions about what happened afterwards.

“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.

“So, why would OPay still go ahead to have her arrested, particularly if she had complied with the company’s demands?”

The former aide said he would have viewed the situation differently if Abubakar had refused to remove the post or apologise after being asked to do so.

He added that if she had complied with OPay’s demands, there were legitimate questions about why her arrest was still considered necessary, particularly if the decision was influenced by calls from social media users demanding her arrest.

Ahmad appealed to OPay to review the matter, describing Abubakar as a young woman and student who made a mistake and subsequently complied with the corrective measures allegedly requested by the company.

He said, “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.

“If that is indeed the case, I believe keeping her in custody serves little useful purpose.”

Ahmad stressed that condemning Abubakar’s action should not amount to condemning her as a person, arguing that accountability and compassion could coexist when an individual acknowledged wrongdoing.

He appealed to OPay to release Abubakar and allow the incident to serve as a lesson rather than derail 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.

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.

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.

In a statement issued on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, the police said operatives of the NPF-NCCC launched a digital forensic investigation and online tracing operation following the circulation of the notice.

The investigation reportedly traced the publication to the X handle @HAIFAH_ER_ABBA, which was linked to Abubakar, leading to her arrest.