Wale Igbintade
A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted Nollywood actress Doris Ogala bail within the sum of N30 million in her alleged cyberstalking case involving Pastor Chris Okafor, whereas imposing strict circumstances barring her from harassing, intimidating or interfering with prosecution witnesses.
Justice Akintayo Aluko, in a ruling on the actress’s bail software, ordered her launch on two sureties in like sum, emphasising the necessity to stability her constitutional proper to non-public liberty with the safety of the judicial course of.
The decide, who thought of the applying dated October 26, 2026, and filed on October 27, 2026, exercised his discretion underneath Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to confess the defendant to bail within the curiosity of justice.
As a part of the bail circumstances, the court docket directed Ogala and her sureties to undertake to keep up good behaviour and chorus from attacking, harassing or intimidating prosecution witnesses or partaking in any conduct able to undermining the integrity of the proceedings.
The sureties are required to be homeowners of landed property in Lagos State, with proof of correct registration on the state’s land registry, or fulfill the opposite eligibility classes specified by the court docket.
They should additionally present letters from their employers testifying to their stability and credibility.
In granting bail, Justice Aluko underscored the constitutional presumption of innocence assured underneath Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, noting that each accused particular person is presumed harmless till confirmed responsible.
The decide, nevertheless, careworn that bail was not an automated entitlement however a matter of judicial discretion, which should be exercised judiciously, considering the circumstances of every case.
He defined that though bail constitutes an essential constitutional safeguard, its main goal is to make sure that an accused particular person attends trial.
The court docket additional emphasised the necessity to strike a stability between an accused particular person’s liberty and the safety of the administration of justice, notably in opposition to attainable interference with witnesses.
Ogala had approached the court docket by way of a 35-paragraph affidavit, alongside an extra 35-paragraph affidavit filed on October 29, 2026, in search of her launch pending the willpower of the legal cost.
In help of her software, the actress argued that granting her bail would allow her to adequately put together her defence and pursue her political marketing campaign in one other state forward of the forthcoming basic election.
She additionally attributed her earlier absences from court docket to well being challenges, disclosing that she had undergone gynaecological surgical procedure.
However, the prosecution opposed the applying, citing the character of the allegations and the potential for the defendant interfering with the continued proceedings.
It argued that the allegations concerned legal intimidation, reputational injury, injurious falsehood and cyberstalking.
The prosecution additionally questioned Ogala’s in depth social media actions in periods she claimed to have been indisposed, contending that the circumstances raised considerations about attainable evasion of trial, interference with proof and harassment of prosecution witnesses.
Ogala is going through a four-count cost marked FHC/L/220C/2026, filed underneath the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, and so on.) Amendment Act, 2024.
The prosecution alleged that between September 2024 and March 2026, the actress unlawfully revealed intimate pictures of Pastor Okafor with out his consent, circulated allegedly false and damaging allegations in opposition to him, and used digital communications to bully, threaten and harass the cleric.
She was additionally accused of making an attempt to extort property from the pastor by allegedly threatening to proceed publishing intimate and menacing supplies until he compensated her or purchased her a home.
According to the prosecution, the alleged conduct was meant to wreck the cleric’s status and expose him to public hatred, ridicule and opprobrium.
Justice Aluko adjourned the case until March 25, 2027, for trial.
