EFCC Withdraws Cybercrime Charges: Maryam Shehu, Abdulhamad Case Dropped Over Agency Attacks
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has ordered the withdrawal of charges filed against Maryam Isah Shehu and Abubakar Shuraim Abdulhamad, who were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged cybercrime and the dissemination of malicious information against the Commission. The two defendants were arraigned on Thursday, August 20, 2026, before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on charges bordering on cyberstalking.
Shehu, a final-year student at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), was accused of using her Instagram account, @maryam_shehu, on June 21 to publish a claim that EFCC officials assaulted one Ahmed Uthman on the instruction of a zonal director who allegedly collected N20 million from one Usman Abbas. The commission alleged that the publication was intended to damage its reputation and charged her under Section 24(2)(c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, while Abdulhamad was charged under the same provision over a separate social media publication.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the Commission had considered the alleged conduct of the defendants to be contrary to Section 24(2)(c) of the Cybercrimes Act, punishable under Section 24(2)(c)(ii) of the same law. However, Olukoyede, in exercising leniency, considered the passionate pleas and apologies made by Shehu’s father, as well as appeals from well-meaning Nigerians for the withdrawal of the charges. Olukoyede consequently directed that the charges against the two defendants be dropped, though he warned that the Commission would no longer tolerate what it described as wilful attacks on its image through any medium or platform.
The EFCC’s decision to withdraw the charges came after civic technology organisation MonITNG publicly questioned the legal basis for the commission’s prosecution of the two defendants over alleged false information, fabrication and damage to the agency’s reputation. MonITNG argued that Nigerians deserved clarity on whether defending the EFCC’s reputation through criminal prosecution fell within the commission’s statutory mandate, stating, “We are aware of the EFCC’s arraignment of Maryam Isah Shehu and Abubakar Shuraim Abdulhamad over allegations of cybercrime, false information, fabrication and alleged damage to the Commission’s reputation. But Nigerians deserve to ask a fundamental question: is defending the EFCC’s reputation through criminal prosecution part of the Commission’s statutory mandate?”
Lawyer Abba Hikima was also among those who had spoken out on the matter following Shehu’s arraignment and remand shortly before her examinations, adding to the wave of public appeals that ultimately preceded the withdrawal decision. The case had drawn attention partly because of the timing of her remand as a final-year student facing upcoming exams.
With the charges now withdrawn, the prosecution of the two defendants will no longer proceed on the basis of the case filed before Justice Abdulmalik, subject to the formal steps required to give effect to the withdrawal. As of the time of filing, the EFCC had not disclosed whether it planned to pursue any alternative administrative or civil action against the two defendants, with the commission instead reiterating that it would continue to operate within its statutory mandate going forward.
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