There was a country: EFCC Chairman Olukayode Jails Final Year Student For Criticising Him

Secrets Reporters

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a final-year student of Bayero University Kano (BUK), Maryam Isah Shehu, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over a social media publication which the anti-graft agency described as an attempt to tarnish its reputation.

Shehu was brought before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on an amended charge dated August 20, 2026, in which the EFCC accused her of intentionally sending a message through the social networking service Instagram, using her account, @maryam_shehu.

According to the amended charge, the publication was intended to tarnish the reputation of the EFCC after Shehu published that an EFCC official assaulted one  Ahmed Uthman, acting under the instruction of a Zonal Director, after allegedly collecting ₦20 million from one Usman Iya Abbas.

The EFCC said the publication constituted an offence under Section 24(2)(c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and is punishable under Section 24(2)(c)(ii) of the same Act.

It is worthy of note that the university student, according to the account of proceedings, had already spent close to 30 days in detention before being brought before the court.

Rather than being released to continue her studies while the case proceeds, Shehu was remanded in Suleja Prison custody, with the court ordering that she remain there until August 31.

Her situation is particularly significant because she is a final-year student of Bayero University Kano and is expected to commence her final examinations this Saturday.

The court proceedings came alongside a separate arraignment involving another individual who was also prosecuted by the EFCC in connection with alleged cyberbullying of the commission. That defendant, who had likewise spent close to 30 days in detention before being brought before the court, was remanded in Kuje Prison.

The two cases were heard separately before Justice Abdulmalik, with both defendants being kept in custody despite having already spent weeks in detention before their arraignment.

For Shehu, the development means that a final-year university student facing a cybercrime charge over an Instagram publication is now expected to remain in prison custody as her final examinations approach.

The development also comes at a time when the EFCC, under Chairman Olukayode P. Ola-Olukayode, is expected to enforce laws against economic and financial crimes and protect public resources.

For a student who is days away from sitting her final university examinations, however, the immediate consequence of the prosecution is not an academic lecture room but a prison cell. There was a country.