Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) across all 36 states of the federation have threatened to launch nationwide protests to demand that the court retain custody of UK-based blogger, Maureen Badejo’s international passport.
The development follows mounting pressure from a coalition of civil society organizations calling for the release of her travel documents. Badejo’s passport was seized as part of her strict bail conditions following her arrest and subsequent trial for alleged cyberstalking and criminal defamation against OFM General Overseer, Apostle Johnson Suleman.
The church members argued that releasing Maureen’s passport poses a significant flight risk and could allow her to evade justice. They maintain that the travel restrictions must remain in place to guarantee the integrity of the judicial process. The church members warned that returning the travel documents will allow the UK-based blogger to flee Nigeria due to her foreign residency and permanently halt her ongoing trial. They emphasized that because cyberstalking and criminal defamation are borderless crimes, granting her the freedom to travel would enable her to escape the jurisdiction of Nigerian courts.
Furthermore, the church members raised concerns that if allowed to leave the country, Badejo could continue publishing defamatory online content from abroad with total impunity. This, they argued, would render local court injunctions completely unenforceable and undermine the integrity of the judicial process.
Besides, they noted that loosening the restrictions would set a dangerous precedent of legal leniency for high-profile cyberstalking suspects, adding that the ongoing legal battle extends beyond a personal dispute but a defense of societal moral fabric and public accountability.
According to representatives of the protesting group, the court must prioritize judicial accountability over a suspect’s freedom of movement to prevent the trivialization of criminal defamation laws. The church members expanded their arguments, stating that the matter indeed involves serious allegations of threat to life not just about defamation. According to them, Maureen explicitly used her media publications to issue death threats targeting both the leadership and members of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM), maintaining that her violent rhetoric has elevated the case from a standard defamation dispute to a critical security matter. They maintain that relaxing travel restrictions for defendants with foreign ties compromises the justice system’s ability to deter online misconduct.
Maureen Badejo was arrested by operatives of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Annex, Alagbon, Ikoyi, arrested Badejo in Lagos in February, following petitions over defamation and conspiring to publish and transmit defamatory statements and videos through her YouTube channel and Facebook platforms against Apostle Johnson Suleman.
