Abuja, Nigeria – The Nigeria Police Force has filed criminal charges against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and two senior officials over alleged violations of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024. The charges follow a petition filed by Chief Christopher Oyemike, PhD, who accused the telecommunications company of tampering with his official email and altering sensitive digital information linked to his employment.
Chief Oyemike claims MTN unlawfully accessed his official email account, making unreadable critical correspondence related to his financial entitlements as a staff member. His petition to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Abuja, also raised concerns that MTN may have compromised an earlier investigation by the Delta State Police Command. That initial investigation reportedly found merit in Oyemike’s complaint.
The Inspector-General of Police ordered a fresh investigation through the FCID, with additional input from the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrimes Centre.
Court filings show MTN Nigeria and two senior staff members—Olawale Rasheed Ajibade, Manager, Modern Workplace, IT Division, Lagos, and Lilian Binda, Adviser, Organisational Effectiveness and Performance, Abuja—are facing multiple counts linked to cybercrime, computer data alteration, suppression, and tampering with lawful evidence.
The case, Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/285/2025, is before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The alleged offences relate to actions said to have occurred on May 6, 2023, involving a Dell Latitude 5420 laptop and MTN’s internal network.
Details of the Charges
Count One:
Conspiracy to unlawfully hinder the functioning of a computer by deleting, altering, or suppressing data—an offence under Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes Act.
Count Two:
Intentional deletion and alteration of computer data without lawful authority, affecting the laptop’s functioning—an offence under Section 8 of the Act.
Count Three:
Conspiracy to modify email messages stored on a laptop or the MTN network—an offence under Section 27(1)(b).
Count Four:
Direct modification of email messages without lawful authority—an offence under Section 16(1) of the Act.
The charges also reference an earlier arbitration meeting between Oyemike and MTN initiated by the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity.
At an earlier hearing on October 3, 2025, neither MTN nor the accused officials appeared in court, prompting Justice Abdulmalik to adjourn the case to November 27, 2025.
However, when the case resumed on November 27, the court again could not proceed because the prosecution failed to produce the 2nd defendant. Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to February 2, 2026, warning the prosecutor, Mr Joseph Udo, that failure to produce the defendant at the next sitting could lead to the case being struck out.
As of press time, MTN Nigeria and the two accused officials have not issued any public statements regarding the allegations or the ongoing case.
The matter continues to draw public interest as one of the most significant cybercrime-related legal battles involving a major telecommunications company in Nigeria.
