Actress Doris Ogala will spend the coming days at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos while a court decides whether she can be released on bail. Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered her remand on Wednesday.
The judge held that her lawyers had not placed enough material before the court to justify releasing her now. He ordered an accelerated hearing of the bail application and adjourned the matter until October 30, 2026.
Her lawyer, N. C. Atulomah, had argued that the decision to grant bail rested within the court’s discretion. He urged the court to release her, noting that she is a governorship candidate of a political party in Abia State, and promised to produce her in court at the next hearing.
The prosecution opposed this. Counsel Tolulope Mokolu said the bail application had only been served on Wednesday and that more time was needed to study it and file a response, adding that the prosecution was still within the time allowed to reply.
Ogala was arraigned on three counts by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. The allegations are cyberbullying, cyberstalking and attempted extortion of Pastor Chris Okafor, and they concern the publication of intimate photographs, the spreading of allegedly false electronic messages and threats against the cleric. She pleaded not guilty to all of them.
The prosecution told the court the offences took place between September 2024 and March 2026. It alleged that Ogala knowingly and intentionally posted nvde and intimate photographs of Okafor on her social media accounts without his consent.
It said the publication was capable of causing annoyance, embarrassment, emotional distress and injury to his reputation, and that the images were later circulated across social media blogs and platforms.
The prosecution further accused her of publishing videos, recordings and electronic messages containing information she allegedly knew to be false, intending to bully, threaten, intimidate and harass the pastor.
It also alleged that she sent electronic messages threatening to keep publishing men@cing and intimate material about him unless he compensated her or bought her a house. According to the prosecutor, the aim was to damage his reputation and expose him to ridicule and public opprobrium.
The prosecution said the alleged offences contravene Sections 24(1)(a), 24(2)(a) and 24(2)© of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
After her plea, Mokolu asked the court to fix a date for trial and to remand her pending the outcome of the case.
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