A pregnant Nigerian woman is facing jail time over her online review of a tomato puree brand, Metro reports.
Chioma Okoli, 39, gave an online critique of tomato puree brand Nagiko Tomato Mix, owned by Nigerian company Erisco Foods, saying it was "too sweet." Okoli then asked her 18,000 Facebook followers to chime in with their thoughts on the tomato sauce, garnering a range of responses.
A woman who claimed to be related to the creator of tomato sauce commented on Okoli's post, saying "Stop spoiling my brother’s product. If [you] don’t like it, use another one than bring it to social media or call the customer service."
"Help me advise your brother to stop k****** people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it’s pure sugar," Okoli responded.
Days later, Nigerian police arrested Okoli while she was in church. She was charged with conspiring with two other individuals with the intention to "instigate people against Erisco Foods Limited" and "instigating Erisco Foods Limited, knowing the said information to be false."
Okoli was taken into custody. To get bail, Okoli was reportedly required to issue a public apology to Erisco. She is facing up to seven years in prison.
Okoli is also facing a lawsuit filed by Erisco who claims that "several suppliers" stopped doing business with the company after her online post.
CEO of Erisco Eric Umeofia said in a statement that he would "rather die than allow someone to tarnish my image I worked 40 years to grow."
Okoli has filed her own lawsuits against Erisco and Nigerian police.
"My client has denied all of the allegations they have leveled against her. We have also filed a £280,000 lawsuit against the company Erisco, and the Nigerian police," Inibehe Effiong, Okoli's lawyer, said in a statement. "That case is still pending in the court in Lagos. The court has also issued a restraining order, restraining the Nigerian police from arresting her."
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