Police arrest alleged operators of Gistlover blog over ‘cyberstalking’

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said it has arrested three persons in connection with a case of alleged conspiracy, cyberstalking, and threat to life.

A statement on Friday by NPF spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the NPF’s National Cybercrime Centre made the arrest acting on a petition by Seye Oladejo.

Adejobi said the suspects Adebukola Kolapo, Nnedum Michael Somtomchukwu and Isaac Akpokighe, all males of ages 27, 25 and 30, respectively, are members of a syndicate called Gistlover Family, responsible for the daily running of the Gistlover blog, a microblogging platform.

His statement reads; “Upon arrest, the suspects revealed their various degrees of involvement in the conspiracy, corroborating the already available overwhelming evidence. The first suspect Adebukola Kolapo a.k.a Omo oba Gistlover was responsible for the creation of over 80 per cent of the Gistlover pages thereby lending his digital footprint for the perpetration of the aforementioned criminal act. Being on the pay roll of the said platform and having enjoyed incentives like car gifts and monies, Adebukola was saddled with the responsibility of scouting, editing and captioning content including the cyberstalking post made against the complainant, Hon. and Dr. Mrs Oluseyi Oladejo. Adebukola has also contributed in laundering monies gotten from the illegal scheme through various means.

“In more developments, digital Forensic analysis led to the recovery of eight (8) gist lover pages created on the instruction of the head of the syndicate by Adebukola, and wallet addresses used in laundering these monies.

The Second suspect, One Nnedum Somtochukwu also shared in the conspiracy wherein at every point the page was taken down for certain infractions and violation of policies at the instance of reports from Law Enforcement Agencies, the suspect using his platform will by all means redirect traffic to the new page, helping the blog to evade sanctions.

“Enjoying incentives like referrals for promotions from the head of the syndicate, Nnedum has also been found sharing content, feedbacks, and making defamatory remarks with the said head of the syndicate.

“The Third suspect, Isaac Akpokighe a 30 years old male resident of Igando Lagos State unlike the duo above, is like hundreds of Nigerians whom having observed the lucrative nature of the Blackmailing, cyberstalking and false information market, decide to imitate the Gistlover blog. By so doing, he created several of such pages and mirrors the activities of the blog including reposting the defamatory and life-threatening post against the complainant and many other notable Nigerians. Digital forensics led to the recovery of four gistlover pages created by Isaac Apkokogho.”

Adejobi added that the suspects would be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigation.