Okoye Blessing Nwakaego, a woman who defamed veteran actress Eniola Badmus by calling her a pimp, has been sentenced to three years in prison for cyberstalking.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal high court convicted her on two counts of cyberstalking on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, after she pled guilty to the charges.
He added that the offense contravened sections 24 (1) (b), (2) (a) (c), and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015. He did, however, give her the option of paying a fine of ₦150,000 instead of a jail sentence.
The accusation states that between December 2022 and July 2023 in Lagos, Nwakaego and a person named Chimabia, who is now at large conspired to perpetrate the crime, the latter is now reportedly in the wind.
The Tiktoker was arrested by the actress in July for the defamatory statements she made by calling her a pimp. The video she made circulated on social media for days and according to Badmus’ legal counsel, caused significant harm to her public image. Shortly after, Badmus had the Tiktoker arrested on the grounds of defamation in the dead of the night on July 22, 2023.
After being reprimanded by the police Blessing alleged that she defamed the actress in order to pay her rent. Going further, she disclosed that she was paid ₦200,000 by Chimabia to lie against the star.
In her words, “So, one of my friends said if I should come out and talk about Miss Eniola Badmus that he was going to send me N200,000 because I told him about my rent. So that was what prompted the video in the first place. So I’m so sorry. I just did it because of the money. I was so desperate to pay my house rent.”
The actress is yet to speak on the verdict.
