A Federal High Court in Abuja has remanded Chioma Okoli in prison after she was arraigned for alleged defamation against Erisco Foods Limited. Ms Chioma denied any wrongdoing when the two charges preferred against her were read to her before the trial judge, Peter Lifu, on Tuesday. She is being prosecuted under Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act.
Mr Lifu adjourned the suit until Friday, 31 May, for ruling on the defendant’s bail request. He remanded the defendant in prison pending the ruling on the bail application. At the hearing of the bail request on Tuesday, Ms Okoli’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, presented a medical report, arguing that his client had a miscarriage because of the psychological trauma she slipped into because of the case.
But the prosecution lawyer, Abdulrashid Sidi, prayed the judge to reject Ms Okoli’s bail application. He contended that the defendant might jump bail. Mr Sidi told the judge that Ms Okoli breached the terms of an earlier administrative bail the police granted her. 
In September 2023, the police arrested Ms Okoli for claiming in a review that a tomato paste she bought in a market tasted sugary. The paste, Nagiko tomato mix, is manufactured by Erisco Foods Limited, Lagos. She made the comment in a post on her Facebook page on 17 September, 2023.
She goes by the name, Chioma Egodi Jnr, on Facebook. In the post, Ms Okoli said she had gone to the market on 16 September with the intention of buying Gino or Sonia brand of tomato paste but could not find them.
A few days later, police operatives in Lagos apprehended Ms Okoli and flew her to Abuja for interrogation following a complaint by Erisco Foods Limited. Erisco Foods Limited described as “untrue and unfounded” Ms Okoli’s claim that its paste tastes sugary.