A social media post that was later admitted to be false has now turned into a detention controversy, with former presidential aide Bashir Ahmad appealing to fintech company OPay Digital Services Limited to reconsider its decision to keep a student in custody.
Ahmad, who served as an aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, has urged OPay to release Haifa Abubakar, arguing that the young student acknowledged her mistake and, according to his understanding, complied with the company’s demand to take down the post and apologise.
The former aide made the appeal in a post on X on Thursday, saying the issue had gone beyond the original false claim and now raised questions about whether continued detention was necessary.
How the controversy began
Haifa reportedly came under scrutiny after publishing a social media post claiming that OPay was shutting down its operations.
The claim was false, and Ahmad made it clear that he did not condone the publication.
However, he said the subsequent events deserved closer examination, particularly the allegation that Haifa corrected the information after OPay demanded that she remove the post and issue an apology.
“We all know that what Haifa did was wrong and virtually nobody supported her actions. However, I have questions about what happened afterwards,” Ahmad said.
According to him, OPay initially gave the student specific steps to take in response to the post.
“My understanding is that she did exactly what she was asked to do; she removed the post and apologised,” he added.
‘Why was her arrest still necessary?’
It is the reported compliance with those demands that Ahmad says has left him questioning the need for Haifa’s continued detention.
He argued that the situation would have been different if the student had refused to delete the post, ignored the company’s request or declined to apologise.
“So, why would OPay still go ahead to have her arrested, particularly if she had complied with the company’s demands?” he asked.
Ahmad maintained that holding Haifa in custody after she had allegedly taken corrective steps raised legitimate concerns.
“But if she did exactly what OPay requested, then I believe there are legitimate questions about why her arrest was still necessary,” he stated.
Ahmad asks OPay to reconsider
The former presidential aide appealed directly to OPay to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the case.
He described Haifa as a young student who made a mistake, was confronted over it and, based on what he said was his understanding of the matter, followed the corrective measures requested by the company.
“I therefore want to make a sincere and strong appeal to OPay; please, kindly look into this matter again. Haifa is a young woman and a student. She made a mistake, was called out for it, and, from what we all saw, complied with the corrective steps OPay itself requested,” Ahmad said.
He questioned what purpose would be served by keeping the student in custody if she had already acknowledged the wrongdoing.
“If that is indeed the case, I believe keeping her in custody serves little useful purpose,” he added.
‘We can condemn what she did without condemning her’
Ahmad also sought to separate accountability for the false post from the treatment of the student herself.
He argued that acknowledging wrongdoing should leave room for correction and redemption, particularly when the person involved has taken steps to remedy the situation.
“We can condemn what Haifa did without condemning her as a person. We can hold people accountable for their mistakes while still showing compassion, especially when they have acknowledged the wrongdoing and complied with the remedy requested of them,” he said.
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His appeal was therefore not a defence of the false information but a call for proportionality in how the matter is handled.
Plea to protect Haifa’s future
Ahmad ended his intervention with a direct appeal to OPay to release the student and allow the incident to become a lesson rather than something that could permanently derail her future.
“OPay, please reconsider this matter. We appeal to you to have Haifa released and allow this incident to end with a lesson learned rather than a young student’s life being unnecessarily derailed,” he said.
The controversy has consequently shifted attention from the original social media claim to a broader question over the consequences of misinformation, accountability and whether corrective action should influence what follows after a false publication.