After Appeals for Leniency, EFCC Drops Cybercrime Charges Against BUK Student, Another Nigerian

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has withdrawn cybercrime charges brought against Maryam Shehu, a final-year student of Bayero University, Kano, and another Nigerian, Abubakar Abdulhamad, who had been accused of peddling malicious information about the commission.

The pair were arraigned separately before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.

According to the EFCC, Shehu had published a social media post on June 21 alleging that operatives of the commission assaulted a man identified as Ahmed Uthman on the orders of a zonal director who allegedly received N20 million from one Usman Abbas.

The commission maintained that the post was aimed at damaging its image and amounted to an offence under Section 24(2)(c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024. Abdulhamad faced a separate charge under the same section.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty when their charges were read in court.

However, in a statement issued Friday, EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale said the commission’s Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, had ordered the charges withdrawn following appeals from Shehu’s father and pleas from concerned Nigerians for leniency.

Oyewale noted that although the commission still viewed the alleged conduct as a breach of the Cybercrimes Act, Olukoyede was moved by the apologies and appeals made on the defendants’ behalf.

“The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has compassionately ordered the withdrawal of charges preferred against Maryam Isah Shehu and Abubakar Shuraim Abdulhamad, who were, on Thursday, August 21, 2026, arraigned before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja, for alleged cybercrime and peddling malicious information against the Commission,” the statement read.

It added that while the commission considered the arraignment consistent with Section 24(2)(c) of the Cybercrimes Act, punishable under Section 24(2)(c)(ii), the chairman nonetheless took into account the passionate pleas made for leniency.

Olukoyede directed that the charges against the two be dropped but warned that the EFCC would no longer tolerate deliberate attacks on its reputation through any medium or platform.

The commission’s chairman further assured Nigerians that the EFCC remains committed to carrying out its mandate in the nation’s best interest.