A 30-year old woman, Uyi Marybrown Obaseki, was on Thursday arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court 6 on a four-count charge bothering on cyberbullying, criminal intimidation and harassment.
In the suit number MOR/148C/2021, pending before Chief Magistrate E. B. Osifo-Ehigiegbea ‘Mrs’, Obaseki was accused of, between February and March 2021, publishing “an unauthorized conversation between Barrister Felix Isere, ‘m’ on the internet with the intention to use it to embarrass him, damage his character, injure, criminally intimidate Barrister Felix Isere ‘m’ and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 24 (A &B) of the Cyber Crime Act 2015 as applicable in Edo State.”
On counts 2 and 3, the accused person was said to have defamed the character of the complaint and threatened his reputation.
Tribune Online gathered that in one of the offensive publications on her Facebook account, with the heading: “Exam malpractice: Ize-Iyamu’s errand lawyer to be disbarred”, Obaseki wrote, among other things, that “it is no longer news that one hungry-looking roadside lawyer, Felix Isere, who runs court errands for Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu the Governorship candidate of the APC in the Edo 2020 election is about to lose his status as a lawyer.
“The said Isere few years back was indicted for examination malpractice by the school authority in his final year as a law student at the Ambrose Alli University. It was reliably gathered that it was Washington Osifo, one of the 14 runaway lawmakers that begged and arranged the cover-up for him when Osifo was Commissioner for Education during the regime of Adams Oshiomhole. The said Isere lied on oath by failing to fill in his law school form attestation jurat that he was nabbed for exam malpractice. If he did, this would have disqualified him for going to the Nigerian Law School, at the time he did.”
The accused person also wrote in the same publication that “our investigation revealed that a report of non-disclosure is been prepared to the Nigerian Law School, for the call to bar certificate of Isere to be withdrawn, as same was obtained by fraud. Exam malpractice is a serious offence in Nigeria. The said lsere may also be prosecuted and if found wanting, imprisoned for committing an exam-related criminal offence.”
Based on the publication, Isere lodged a complaint at the Edo State Police Area Command, Sapele Road, Benin, on Monday, March, 29 and the accused was arrested and granted administrative bail by the police and was asked to retract the said offensive publications and apologise to the complaint.
Obaseki was said to have rejected the peace initiative and opted to be charged to court.
On Thursday, April 1, the Police Prosecuting Officer, Sergeant M. O. Olajide, arraigned Obaseki before the magistrate court, where she pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges.
Reviewing the matter, Magistrate Ehigiegba granted the accused person bail in the sum of N100,000, with a surety in like sum, who must swear to an affidavit of means and have his house address verified by the court officials.
As at the time of filing this report, Obaseki was yet to perfect her bail conditions.
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