The Federal High Court, Kaduna Division, has sentenced Ruth Ogunleye to two years in prison and fined her N500,000 for defamatory publications against the commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Oluyemi Olatoye.

The presiding judge, Rilwanu Aikawa, explained that the defendant should serve a one-year custodial term for each of the two counts she was found guilty of, totalling two years, and pay a N250,000 fine for each count, totalling N500,000.

The judge’s ruling of a one-year custodial term on each of the two counts, to run concurrently, was suspended for three years under a plea bargain agreement, following an agreement between the prosecution and the defendant pursuant to Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

The defendant was initially arraigned on a five-count charge instituted by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, over the defamatory video posted on her TikTok account, @ogunleyeruthsavage, on or about August 14, 2026.

The prosecution accused the defendant of intentionally transmitting and publishing videos containing allegations against Mr Olatoye, despite knowing the claims were false and intending to cause annoyance, insult, injury, hatred, ill will, and damage to his reputation.

One of the charges centred on a TikTok video, in which she displayed the senior military officer’s photograph, which she captioned, ‘Maj General Yemi Olatoye is responsible for my death’.

Another count related to a publication captioned, ‘I go post your oga own too, your oga own dey my phone’, in which she allegedly referred to the NDA commandant and made statements concerning him.

The five-count charge also contained allegations relating to claims that she possessed intimate photographs of the senior military officer and threatened to publish materials concerning him.

The offences were brought under Section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, as amended by the Cybercrimes Amendment Act 2024, and punishable under Section 24(2) of the Act.

However, after negotiations between the parties, the prosecution and the defence reached a plea bargain agreement: the defendant pleaded guilty to counts one and two, while counts three, four and five were withdrawn upon her conviction.

The agreement requires the defendant to demonstrate remorse and undertake not to engage in similar conduct again, and to tender a public apology in two national daily newspapers within 14 days of sentencing, in a form approved by counsel to the nominal complainant.