Spokesperson of Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, has said that the social media content creator, Mr. Stanley Okoruwa, who accused entertainment executive E-money of having an affair with the widow of late actor Junior Pope, must be prosecuted.
LEADERSHIP reported the arrest of one out of three content creators who accused popular Nigerian businessman Emeka Okonkwo, also known as E-Money, of having an affair with Jennifer Odonwodo, the wife of late Junior Pope Obumneme Odonwodo, who died recently following a boat accident while returning from a movie location in Delta State.
Recall that E-money had expressed his intentions of bringing his defamers to justice. Consequently, 24-year-old Stanley Okoruwa was traced to Edo State and apprehended by the Police.
SP Hundeyin, who spoke to journalists on Monday while parading Okoruwa, emphasised that the suspect was not just being prosecuted because of the prominence of the victim but because he committed a crime.
“He is going to be prosecuted because the things he engaged in were criminal in nature. He has allegedly defamed E-money and he is going to be prosecuted.
“We are not prosecuting the suspect because of the personality involved but because he has allegedly committed a crime. The personality goes through the normal channel by reporting the case to the police, and we investigate and arrest the suspect.
“If one is defamed and you only talk about it in the social media, you have not reported the case yet to the Police, it doesn’t work that way. The best thing to do is report at any police division, area command or police headquarters, we will take it up,” he said.
Hundeyin warned social media users against creating injurious contents, emphasising that actions would be taken against anyone found guilty of defamation.
Meanwhile, Okoruwa disclosed that his words were merely an attempt to draw traffic to his page and gain more followers. He expressed regrets over his accusation and asked for E-money’s forgiveness.
Okoruwa said, “I did a video about E-Money. I said a lot of things that are not true in that video, that is why the police arrested me.
“I said something regarding a video I saw online about a woman – saying that Sir E-Money is responsible for the things that happened to Nollywood actor John Odonwodo, a.k.a Junior Pope’s case.
“I said something like that; I also said that Sir E-money was also having an affair with Junior Pope’s wife. I have never in my life met E-Money. Everything I made in that video was not true.
“I made the video out of trying to boost my page traffic level, I never knew it will go viral the way it went. I don’t have bad intention to spoiled Sir E-Money’s name. I was just making the video; I didn’t know it will go such wide.
“I know the contents of the video were wrong of me to have made. I didn’t know the video would escalate to that extent.
“I saw that the video was already going viral, I thought pulling it down will not make sense, I decided to leave it. I have not reach E-Money to apologise, because I don’t have his contact to do so.
“I was already planning to make an apology video, that was when I was arrested by the police.
“I have been praying to have this opportunity to apologise to him. I am very sorry, Sir E-money. I didn’t mean to tarnish his image or spoil his name online.
“Everything I said in that video was false. I am using this medium to say Sir E-money, I need your forgiveness, I will never in my life do such a mistake again,”