For years, Ejike Ofoegbu, also known as “Experience”, the blogger and publisher of Igbo Times Magazine and I News, understood that he only needed to push out ugly stories about the political elite in the region and Nigeria and their families to gain massive traffic.

From the South-east, he also knows that disseminating the good deeds but false stories of the jailed Biafran leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was another strategy to attract followers.

In all these years, Ofoegbu became a merchant and a superspreader of misinformation and disinformation by using his Facebook pages to cook up cheap and false stories which portray the ruling class, politicians or anyone who is not supporting Kanu and Biafra agitation in a bad light.

Through his Facebook pages, false hopes, narratives, and hate spread among South-east residents.

In 2024, an investigation by Dubawa, a fact-checking platform in Nigeria, found that Ofoegbu was behind the Igbo Times Magazine Facebook page 

Before now, his publication was the subject of investigations by many fact-checking platforms for repeatedly publishing fabricated and misleading stories.

Until last week, the blogger, in his deliberate acts to continue to distribute false information, failed to perceive that the beginning of the end of his activities was very close.

Some defamatory stories nailed him, false stories where he claimed that Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State disowned his son, Ozonna, after a viral video of the governor’s son dancing to a song in which his father, the president and other top government officials and politicians were maligned.

The blogger went on to publish other false claims about Soludo’ and his family, which are yet to be deleted as of Monday, 13 July, even after his so-called public apology.

During the apology in a video last week, he acknowledged that several stories concerning Governor Soludo and his son, Ozonna, were false and created to attract online traffic and generate financial gain.

In a statement titled “Public Apology and Full Retraction,” Ofoegbu admitted that the reports were neither based on verified facts nor sourced from the governor, his family or any official representative.

“I publicly admit that the stories I published concerning Governor Soludo and his son were completely fake, false, fabricated, and untrue. They did not come from Governor Soludo, his son, his family, or any official representative.

“They were not based on any verified facts or credible source, and they should never have been presented as news,” he stated.

Check out some of the stories here and here about the Anambra governor here and here.

But it has seemed like it is now too late for him after he was arraigned and remanded in prison by the Anambra State Government.

The state government arraigned the blogger on Monday over alleged criminal defamation and cybercrime linked to reports published about Governor Soludo and his family.

“Ejike Ofoegbu (Experience), the Owner and publisher of Igbo Times Magazine and I News, who published fake news against Gov. Soludo’s family, arrives in Magistrate Court Amawbia, as his criminal defamation and cybercrime offence case continues,” the post read.

Meanwhile, the police in Anambra State in a statement later on Monday, disclosed that Experience has been remanded at “a correctional facility ”  as court proceedings continue.

Under Nigeria’s amended Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024), that provides: “Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that … (b) he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order, posing a threat to life, or causing such message to be sent, commits an offence.” 

If Ofoegbu is found guilty under this provision, the punishment is set out in the same provision. Section 24(2) states: “Any person who commits an offence under subsection (1) of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than ₦7,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.” 

Many people have continued to use blogs and Facebook pages to spread misinformation in Nigeria, contributing to the rapid circulation of false or misleading claims online. 

Such conduct can mislead the public, damage reputations, and, where it meets the legal requirements under Nigerian law, expose those responsible to criminal or civil consequences. Authorities have repeatedly warned against the deliberate dissemination of false information through digital platforms.