A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a\u00a0\u201cmalicious allegation\u201d\u00a0that damaged its business. <\/p>\n
Chioma Okoli, a 39-year-old entrepreneur\u00a0from Lagos, is being prosecuted\u00a0and sued in civil court\u00a0<\/strong>for allegedly breaching the country\u2019s cybercrime laws, in a case that has gripped the West African nation and sparked protests by locals who believe she is being persecuted for exercising her right to free speech. <\/p>\n Her post, accompanied by a\u00a0photo of an opened\u00a0can of Nagiko Tomato Mix,\u00a0produced by local company Erisco\u00a0Foods\u00a0Limited, sparked varied reactions from commenters, one of whom replied: \u201cStop spoiling my brother\u2019s product. If\u00a0(you)\u00a0don\u2019t like it, use another one than bring it to social media or call the customer service.\u201d <\/p>\n Okoli responded: \u201cHelp me advise your brother to stop ki***ing people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it\u2019s pure sugar.\u201d <\/p>\n A week later, on September 24, she was arrested. <\/p>\n According to the police, Okoli was charged with \u201cinstigating Erisco Foods\u00a0Limited, knowing the said information to be false\u00a0<\/strong>under Section 24 (1) (B) of Nigeria\u2019s\u00a0Cyber Crime Prohibition\u00a0Act.\u201d <\/p>\n If found guilty, she could face up to three years in jail or a fine of 7 million naira\u00a0(around $5,000), or both. <\/p>\n Okoli was separately charged with conspiring with two other individuals \u201cwith the intention of instigating people against Erisco Foods Limited,\u201d which the charge sheet noted was punishable under Section 27(1)(B) of the same act. She risks a seven-year sentence if convicted of this charge. <\/p>\n Okoli is also being sued in a separate civil case brought by Erisco, which said in a statement issued on January 19 that it was defending its reputation after her comments\u00a0\u201cresulted in several suppliers deciding to disassociate themselves from us.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI was put in the cell around 6 p.m. (on September 24). There were no seats, so I stood all through till the next day. My legs were inside the water (that came in from the leaking roof). Sometimes, I squatted to reduce the pressure on my legs. I was thinking about my children who were at home. I was talking to myself. I would think, I would pray, I was messed up,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The following day, Okoli was flown to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and held at a police station until her release on administrative bail was finalized a day later,\u00a0she said. <\/p>\n The police filed their case against Okoli in an Abuja court on October 5. <\/p>\n The first court hearing took place on December 7. She was represented by her lawyer but did not attend in person. <\/p>\n \u201cThey stayed in my building from 6:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. My children couldn\u2019t go to school that day and we couldn\u2019t go out to get food because the cooking gas was finished,\u201d she said. Eventually, she said, the police left. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will comment on the case when the court decides,\u201d Adejobi said. <\/p>\n \u201cIn this case, we believe that David is right, and Goliath is wrong,\u201d Effiong said. <\/p>\n In October, he filed a\u00a0500 million naira\u00a0($361,171)\u00a0countersuit\u00a0<\/strong>on behalf of Okoli against both Erisco and the police at a Lagos court, challenging her arrest and detention, which he said violated her constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement. <\/p>\n In court papers relating to the countersuit, Effiong argued that his client\u2019s arrest was\u00a0also\u00a0a breach of her constitutional right to freedom of expression.\u00a0He said that\u00a0<\/strong>he would also ask the Abuja court where she is being tried for cybercrime violations to transfer the case to Lagos, where she lives, at the next hearing, set for April 18. <\/p>\n \u201cNo law guarantees absolute freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile we have our freedom of expression, there are limitations. You can\u2019t defame or malign someone.\u201d <\/p>\n However, he added that \u201ccybercrime is difficult to prove in court. You have to prove actual harm when the post was made. Erisco must prove that the Facebook post (by Okoli) affected its business as\u00a0<\/strong>at the point it was made.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>He noted that in Okoli\u2019s post, she used a word with three asterisks, which could be open to interpretation. <\/p>\n \u201cHarassment and intimidation of Chioma Okoli must end now,\u201d Amnesty International Nigeria\u00a0said\u00a0earlier this month, as Nigerians began crowdfunding online to support her legal fees. <\/p>\n Okoli\u2019s case has sparked\u00a0protests\u00a0at Erisco\u2019s Lagos facility as many on social media called for a\u00a0boycott\u00a0of its products. The company\u2019s founder, Eric Umeofia, refused to budge, however,\u00a0saying in a recent documentary on the local Arise Television\u00a0channel that he won\u2019t drop the lawsuit against Okoli and that he would \u201crather die than allow someone to tarnish my image I worked 40 years to grow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a\u00a0\u201cmalicious allegation\u201d\u00a0that damaged its business. Chioma Okoli, a 39-year-old entrepreneur\u00a0from Lagos, is being prosecuted\u00a0and sued in civil court\u00a0for allegedly breaching the country\u2019s cybercrime laws, in a case that has gripped the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What did she say?<\/h2>\n
Public apology required<\/h2>\n
Countersuit against police and food company<\/h2>\n
Hard to prove<\/h2>\n