On Monday, Nigerians woke up to a video of a teenage TikToker named Abigail Nsuka, also known as Mirabel, saying that she had been raped in her residence early on Sunday, February 15.
The video spread quickly on social media, and thousands of people, including the famous singer Simi, called for justice for her.
According to Saturday PUNCH, the results showed that Mirabel not only gained supporters, but she also made a lot of money by disclosing her account information till the bubble burst.
The Ogun State Police Command is presently holding her.
Claim of wild rape
Mirabel, crying, said in an emotive message that an intruder raped her at 9 a.m.
She said, “I can’t sleep.” I can’t sleep unless I’m drunk or high. So I drank on Saturday, but it didn’t work. But I had to be high enough to sleep.
“My eyes were fatigued, but I couldn’t go to sleep. I went to bed about 6 a.m. and heard someone knock on my door at 9 a.m. It was Sunday morning, so I believed it was one of my neighbors. Most of them probably went to church, or maybe one of them wanted to ask for something. I got up. I had a headache.
“I was still drunk and had a headache.” As soon as I opened the door, someone shoved me back. There was my fridge before I arrived to my door, and a few steps forward was the door. When I was shoved back, I smacked my head on the fridge and passed out. There was a man over me when I opened my eyes.
“There was a piece of cloth in my mouth, and I was tied up. I was just babbling there, hoping someone would hear me. It was Sunday, and most people would have gone to church. Even the neighbor next door had gone to church. Those were the only folks who could barely hear me mumbling.
She said that the perpetrator put a knife in her private regions to make her bleed.
“Later, I was bleeding. I didn’t know what was making me bleed. I assumed I was having my menstruation. The person sent me a text. She said, “It turns out that this person put a face blade in my body and cut me so I could bleed.”
A lot of Nigerians got angry when they saw the gory details in the video.
Groups that support her also said they were ready to help her.
The Ogun State Government and the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency both said they wanted to make sure that justice was done.
The gifts
Martins Otse, also known as Very Dark Man, is a social media influencer. He said he sent her N100,000 and that he had planned to pay her N500,000 but her bank couldn’t accept it.
Ifedolapo, one of Mirabel’s friends, alleged that someone else sent N200,000 to the account.
Ifedolapo further said that the bank account got N100,000 and N300,000 at different times.
A lot of people who use social media reported they had sent different amounts to the account number.
An influencer named Immunizer said that Mirabel made between N1m and N5m from people who felt sorry for him.
The arguments
Mirabel’s video got more than seven million views and was a trending topic for days until some people started to question her claims.
People on the internet, like Immunizer, looked into the pattern of her assertions and decided that she made everything up.
They said that the way she wrote was like the messages she said the rapist gave her.
One of Mirabel’s neighbors also said that she didn’t drink Sniper in an attempt to kill herself, claiming that nothing like that happened.
In the face of the uproar, a YouTuber named Vick TV said that the narrative was made up to get money to pay her rent.
A big change of direction
When the heat was cranked on, her buddies started to back out, insisting they had nothing to do with the plan.
Mirabel also said in a taped phone call with VDM that she made it all up.
“I used to touch myself, and I’m gay. When I suffer panic attacks, I often hurt myself. She said in the audio tape, “It could be a hallucination.”
She admitted that she made a different TikTok account to send herself messages to make it look like a rapist had contacted her.
Supporters who had spread her narrative and given money were shocked by the supposed confession.
As the revelation spread, people’s pity rapidly turned to anger.
Several Nigerians who sent money asked for their money back because they were worried about how a false rape claim would affect other people, saying that such claims could make real victims less believable.
One person said that a lot of Nigerians were in jail because of false accusations, while another person said that real rape survivors sometimes have a hard time speaking out.
Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, the Founder and Executive Director of Project Alert on Violence Against Women, criticized Mirabel for making misleading charges.
She asked on Facebook that she be charged with making light of a serious crime.
She said, “What is this nonsense?” Does she believe it’s funny to joke about rape, get attention for it, and make money off of it? Does she know that what she did could hurt real victims?
“As women’s rights activists, we are still dealing with secondary victimization (blaming, shaming, ridicule, and poor police response), and then this careless and rude young girl does this.” This is a crime. What’s wrong with people? Please let her face the full force of the law for admitting that she lied.
Lola Adeniyi, the head of the Lagos State Domestic Violence Response Team, said on X that false claims and misinformation could hurt public trust and make it harder for real survivors to be believed. She also warned against making an environment that silences real victims.
The agency said, “Justice needs truth, proof, and due process.”
Punishment for making a false rape claim
Mirabel might go to jail for three years for lying, which is a crime under Section 59 of the Criminal Code Act and Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015.
Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act says that if someone knowingly sends false information through social media, email, or other online platforms and it causes annoyance, danger, insult, criminal intimidation, hatred, or unnecessary anxiety, they could go to jail for three years, pay a fine of N7m, or both.
Many bloggers and social media users have been charged under this law.
Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer who works on human rights cases, indicated that Mirabel may be charged.
He said, “If she had told the police about it sooner and it turned out to be false, she could also be charged with lying to the police.”
If she is found guilty, she might go to jail. I believe that persons who falsely accuse others of rape should face harsh consequences. The legislature should look into this issue.
“The impact is that it makes it hard for the public to accept people who are genuinely victims of rape and keeps real victims from coming forward. That kind of behavior is wrong and should be denounced.
Omenazu Jackson, the Chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights, also called the Tiktoker’s conduct “a criminal offense and a social crime.”
The lawyer said, “It is against the law to lie to the public.” That is lying, and the law says that you can be punished for it because it can generate public outrage and unrest.
“So, it’s important for everyone to offer the right information to the public. The law really doesn’t like it. The law says she might go to jail for making a false alarm.
“She needs to be punished so that other people won’t lie in the future.” This is to make sure that the information presented to the public can be checked. “The prosecution has to prove its case in the criminal justice system.”
Oluseyi Babaseyi, the Ogun State Police Command’s spokesperson, said that Mirabel had been released from the hospital where she was being treated and was now in police custody.
When asked if she would be charged with raising a false alarm, he refused to say anything.
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