A Nigerian blogger who falsely claimed that business tycoon Emeka Okonkwo, popularly known as E-Money, had an affair with the wife of the late actor Junior Pope, has confessed that his motive was to gain more followers.
Junior Pope tragically died on April 10 in the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State, while on his way to a movie location.
Shortly after, blogger Stanley Okoruwa posted a video on Facebook accusing E-Money of having an affair with Pope’s widow and insinuating that E-Money might have been involved in the actor’s death.
The allegations prompted E-Money to vow legal action against the blogger for spreading such defamatory rumors.
Okoruwa was arrested last week and paraded before journalists on Monday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.
He admitted to fabricating the story, stating that he did it to boost his online followership.
In a now-viral video, Okoruwa apologized to E-Money and reiterated that his claims were false.
“I made the video to grow my page, I did not have any bad intentions towards E-Money,” he said.
“I did not know the video would go viral. I accept it is wrong for me to make such a video and I did not know it would escalate. Everything in the video is not true, I just tried to make the video to get popular and get the opportunity to meet E-Money.”
“I’m very sorry, E-Money. I did not mean to tarnish his image. Everything in the video is false. I’m using this medium to seek E-Money’s forgiveness and I will not repeat the mistake again,” he added.
Lagos State police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed that Okoruwa would be prosecuted for cyberbullying and defamation of character.
“He is going to be prosecuted because the things he engaged in were criminal in nature. He has allegedly defamed E-Money and he will be prosecuted,” Hundeyin said.
