The Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the remand of Nwanorue John Surpruchi, a 19-year-old blogger, following allegations that he published false and defamatory social media posts targeting Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of United Bank for Africa.
Surpruchi appeared in court on Friday to face a four-count charge bordering on cyberstalking and criminal intimidation directed at the prominent business executive.
The prosecution accused the teenager of utilizing his account on X, operating under the handle @PROBLElEMCHIMKYI, to spread a fabricated report claiming that Elumelu had divorced his wife after a DNA test allegedly revealed that none of his seven children were biologically his.
The official charge sheet detailed the criminal conspiracy and cyberstalking offenses brought against the blogger.
“That you, Nwanorue John Surpruchi, and others now at large on or about the 5th day of April, 2026, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit a felony, to wit, cyberstalking, by agreeing to use a computer system and network to disseminate false and injurious information against the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of United Bank for Africa, Mr Tony Elumelu, and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended),” the charge sheet reads.
The document further stated, “That you, Nwanorue John Surpruchi, and others now at large, on or about the 5th day of April, 2026, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly and intentionally sent and caused to be sent through a computer system via a Twitter account (x) known as ‘@PROBLElEMCHIMKYI’ (registered with your name) to John Surpruchi Nwanorue (phone number 07049845280 ) a message which you knew to be false and grossly offensive and menacing in character, to wit: that the Chief Executive Officer, CEO of UBA, Mr Tony Elumelu, had divorced his wife following a DNA discovery that none of his seven children belong to him, with Intent to cause annoyance, inconvenience, insult, hatred and ill will and criminal intimidation to him and his family. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended).”
The defendant entered a plea of not guilty after the court registrar read the charges to him. Following the plea, the police prosecutor from the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Alagbon, A.G. Obi, informed the court that she had only received the defendant’s bail application earlier that Friday morning.
Obi explained to the court that she required sufficient time to thoroughly study the defense’s documents and file an appropriate legal response.
Consequently, she requested that the trial judge remand the blogger in a correctional facility pending the formal determination of the bail application, while also asking for a definitive date to commence the trial.
In response, the defense counsel, Anslem Etoh, appealed to the court to grant a short adjournment so that the application for bail could be heard swiftly.
After listening to the submissions from both legal teams, the presiding judge, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, adjourned the case until June 19 for the formal hearing of the bail application, ordering that the teenager remain remanded until that date.
