Woman arrested over fake OPay shutdown post says she deleted it and apologized

Woman arrested over fake OPay shutdown post says she deleted it and apologized

Hafsat Abubakar has spoken out after her arrest over a forged document falsely claiming fintech firm OPay was shutting down.

Abubakar told journalists at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday that she deleted the post and apologized the same day OPay flagged it as fake.  

“Once I saw their notice, I took it down immediately,” she said. “They gave me till 11:59pm on August 31 to delete and apologize. I deleted around 8pm and posted my apology before 11pm.”

Despite that, she said police arrested her 5 days later on September 4 at her home in Zaria, Kaduna State. According to her, OPay had filed a petition and she was brought to Abuja for questioning.

The case highlights how serious misinformation is taken in the fintech space. OPay moved fast to debunk the claim to protect customer trust. For Abubakar, deleting and apologizing wasn’t enough to stop legal action.

With fintech growing fast across Nigeria and Africa, the incident is a reminder: spreading false info online, even with a quick takedown, can still lead to serious consequences.

The case shows how far companies and authorities will go to fight fake news in fintech — a sector that depends entirely on trust.