Ezra Olubi, a prominent Nigerian tech figure and co-founder of Paystack, began trending on November 12th after a wave of allegations surfaced online. What started as claims of workplace sexual misconduct quickly spiraled into the circulation of disturbing tweets referencing rape, animals, and children that swiftly led to his suspension from Paystack.
How It All Started
It all began on 11 November when an X user, Max Obae a.k.a. MakiSpoke, posted a cryptic thread online, accusing an anonymous tech leader of being dangerous and allegedly sleeping with his female subordinates.
She began by accusing him of workplace harassment, setting the timeline ablaze with suspicion: “This person sleeps with their female subordinates. And this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. When I say they are dangerous, I mean exactly what I’m saying.”
While people were left reeling, wondering who this anonymous workplace harasser was, she dropped another tweet, this time with more details about this mystery person: “This particular person especially hides behind women, especially powerful feminists. I don’t know if everyone is aware of his misogynistic behavior, but one thing I know is that it’s hard to call it out because these women tend to come straight to his defense.” By now, some people were already putting the few clues together, with a few fingers starting to point at Ezra.
She continued by talking about her plans to write a book on this mystery person. “Anyway, I plan to write a book about my life one day, and 2024 will be dedicated to straight men that co-opt ‘queerness’ as a mask to hide their contempt for people they consider intellectually inferior and their misogyny for women. It’s going to be quite revealing.”
What finally blew X (formerly Twitter) open was the X space she held called ‘My Piece’, where she levied even more serious accusations at the anonymous man, ‘John Doe’, whom she claimed she was in a polycule with at the time. She claimed they had always been mutuals on X, prior to them becoming a polycule, and that things changed after she found out that he had slept with a female subordinate. She claimed she found it wrong, it was unethical, and that after they had sex, his behavior changed even more, becoming ruder. During the space, she accused him of several other things, of allegedly being a misogynist just like in the tweets mentioned above, and luring women into relationships to abuse them.
With this, the Internet detectives all concluded it was Ezra. They claimed the clues all pointed to Ezra “God” Olubi. And so, it didn’t take long for people to start digging on his page to find evidence of his alleged dangerous behaviour, only to uncover disturbing posts dating as far back as 2011.
The responses to the tweets were all alarmed. People were confused. How did these incriminating tweets go unnoticed for years? How could he rise to such international acclaim, getting acclaim from even the present, if this is what he was doing online?
If you haven’t seen these tweets, then you’re one of the lucky ones, because it wasn’t only shocking, it genuinely made me feel sick to the stomach. Here are a few of these triggering articles.
These tweets were incredibly disturbing and graphic, ranging from topics like incest to bestiality, to rape, workplace harassment, sexual harassment, illegal voyeurism, and pedophilia over the span of two years. In them, he claimed to not just think and plan to indulge in these perverted activities, but also allegedly enjoy them.
A Little Background on Ezra Olubi, and Why This Is All The More Alarming
Ezra Olubi is, or rather, was a pioneer in the Nigerian tech space. He, along with cofounder Shola Akinlade, created Paystack in 2015, revolutionizing modern payment systems for businesses in Africa. In 2020, it was acquired by Stripe for 200 million dollars, making it a landmark in African tech. Since then, he’s gone on to be a major player in the tech space, investing in major startups like Chowdeck.
Outside the boardroom, he has a public identity rooted in progressiveness, one noteworthy because he’s also a prominent male figure in tech. After all, how many tech bros do you know who wear lipstick, dresses, and heels? This is something he has gotten hate for in the past, and has had several LGBTQ+ friends, plus feminists ( Some of whom include Kiki Mordi, the investigative journalist, Ozzy Etomi, the co-founder of Dye Lab, and Ulxma on X) come out to defend him for.
For years, Ezra was a vocal, proud ally in queer, feminist, and LGBTQ+ spaces, using his platform and status to challenge conservative norms. He presented femininely: wearing lipstick and a skirt. He hosted spaces, supported, and encouraged feminists seeking social change and queer people. Hell, in 2019, he even hosted a pyjama party with only queer and feminist activists in attendance.
He seemed like an ally, and he was loved for it.
Which is what makes the scandal all the more alarming. How could a man who helped advocate for these communities also make room for them to be criticised this badly?
The Blame Reversal: Women (Feminists) Are Being Blamed For Ezra Olubi’s Alleged Actions
In a different state or country, the government and police would note that they’d be looking into it to uncover facts. But all that has happened is Paystack terminating his employment as he revealed in his blog, Ezra deactivating his account, and “X Feminists” being dragged and being blamed for his action. A petition has also been created to revoke the Officer of the Order of Nigeria award conferred on him and fellow Paystack cofounder, Shola Akinlade, in 2022 for their contributions to the development of the Nigerian tech industry, but at the time of writing, it has only gotten 16 verified signatures.
With Ezra’s account deactivated, the Twitter community did what they did best: they found someone to direct the hate and blame for, and who better than the feminists and LGBTQ community who had shown support for him before?. Conveniently, these people were women.
Women who have been on the receiving end of misogyny for years because of their public views. Because, yes, when a man tweets sick and disturbing things, it’s only the women in his life who should be blamed.
Now, don’t get it twisted. These questions aren’t wrong. It is extremely logical to examine the people closest to a sexual predator (re: the Epstein files). Especially if they’ve been around them for a long time, like some of these women. Surely, they must have seen some signs. And if they did, why did it take so long to say anything? After all, Max Obae, who sparked off this discourse, has been in conversation with him, allegedly going as far back as 2011.
The problem is that the entire spotlight moved away from Ezra Olubi and onto the women around him. The critics completely forgot about his male friends. No one thought to also ask Shola Akinlade if he noticed any signs that his cofounder and friend of over a decade was a sexual deviant.
Rather, the focus was, of course, the women, the feminists, and the queer people whom they’ve been looking for a reason to cancel.
And just like that, misogyny found a way to hide under the label of social commentary. Feminists and queer people are now being dragged by men (‘neutral’ observers) for what Ezra did because he was an ally to the communities.
His tweets have now been used as an excuse to persecute these movements online.
No Community is Safe from the Attacks
Ezra Olubi, in addition to being considered a feminist ally, was considered a prominent, queer figure. In a country like ours, where same sex relations are a crime punishable by law, Ezra openly mentioned his androgynous style, polyamory, and queer identity on his social platforms and blog, helping spread awareness and making him a symbol of queer visibility. There was no one else as open about nonconformity as he was. Case in point, this viral 2024 post of Ezra, Max Obae, and her wife, all of whom were allegedly in a polycule.
Many Nigerians had not, up to that point, heard about a polycule, or even understood polyamory outside of traditional polygamy. This point marked a turning point in progressiveness for Nigerian society. In terms of visibility, that is, not acceptance. The picture was faced with backlash, garnering hateful quotes and tweets. But visibility is visibility, and it must have been an inspiring time for queer people in poly relationships.
Now, however, all the tweets and revelations have reframed Ezra’s entire queer identity as a facade: A carefully curated persona to allegedly help him lure women into manipulative relationships where money is used to control them.
On his part, Ezra has openly admitted and rejected claims to queerness, calling himself an effeminate straight man in a 2020 tweet, while also admitting to thinking of himself as “…homosexual, bisexual or bicurious” in his blog named ‘Shit Ezra Says’. Either way, despite whatever label he uses, Ezra is associated with queer identity and expression in Nigeria.
Now, the average Nigerian doesn’t care for his indecisiveness and is now raising questions. How can you trust a man who dresses like a woman? Haven’t we always said that people like these are not normal? Why do we support these people in our society?
This, of course, fuels homophobia. To these critics, whose to say that the feminine-presenting man you know isn’t worse? And now, Ezra’s ‘proud’ visibility has become a liability for the queer Nigerians.
At a time when queer people in Nigeria are seeing an increase in targeted attacks and hate, Ezra’s scandal becomes another setback for the community. His openness was inspirational, serving as a guiding light, but it is now a weapon being used against the community.
Nigerians have always been eager to demonize queer people, and this is the perfect excuse to do so. Young queer Nigerians who had someone to look up to may now fear being out and proud, thanks to his actions. Case in point, this blatantly homophobic post by popularly acclaimed music video director TG Omori, made on the 14th of November, amid the Ezra Olubi discourse. This tweet, which garnered over 7 million views at the time of writing, was made at a time when queer identity in Nigeria was under attack, and coming from a popular figure like Omori, only served to make things worse, fuelling homophobia and giving hate a bigger platform.
The Resulting Societal Implications Of This Scandal
I watched the ‘Your View’ morning show on TVC on the 18th of November, and on this same topic, one of the hosts commented that Nigerians are “becoming too free” as a society, concerning what we let him get away with. When related to this discourse, the subtext is implied: We are “too woke”. We allowed a man to wear dresses and lipstick, and now he’s been revealed to be an alleged paedophile, zoophile, and rapist. A sentiment rapidly echoing in the minds of other people in society.
This serves to show that discourse is not just online drama. We are witnessing in real time a strong attempt to set back any form of societal progress, we have achieved in the past decade. Feminism, queer rights, and visibility, even pet parenting. These movements and communities are now victims of the liability that is Ezra Olubi.
He was closely aligned with all these movements, using his standing to show support. Before the scandal, he was widely known as the cat guy. Nigerian men don’t generally keep pets, especially not the “cats” who are still judged based on several stereotypes. So his affection for his cats became part of his public image and people online even talked about how well he cared for them. Then the tweets resurfaced. The same cats that once made him appear warm and free-spirited became part of the social disgust. Instead of a loving pet parent, the picture quickly soured to that of an allegedly sick individual. Overnight, pet ownership, especially for men, became a source of suspicion. And just like that, Ezra’s tweet managed to set back a growing community of cat people/ cat parents.
Feminism wise, his tweets have spurred harmful conversations among feminists. With his feminist acquaintances, Kiki Mordi, Uloma, and Ozzy Etomi dragged and considered jokes on social media because of their involvement with Ezra Olubi. Kiki Mordi, award award-winning journalist for the BBC, the sex for grades documentary has lost her credibility because they were best friends. Ozzy Etomi, feminist writer and cofounder of Dye Lab, was forced to deactivate her X account because of leaked chats alleging she wanted to be part of their polycule. Uloma, another feminist activist, alongside being dragged for her involvement with him, has faced renewed backlash over her statement being evasive. In fact, Max Obae, who started the discourse, was also dragged for not speaking up sooner. Several female netizens have taken to removing the feminist tags from their bios; others even go as far as renouncing feminism for Christianity, much to the approval of men online.
As for the queer spaces, as shown below, queerness has now been equated to sexual deviance. With the shift in blame, no one is looking at Ezra’s alleged actions as his own, but as a collective queer fault.
His alleged actions have cast a hateful dark shadow over the queer community, one that threatens to undo all the progress that has been made. In the one week since the scandal began, there’s been a significant increase in homophobia, with slurs and hateful words making the rounds online whenever queer people are brought up.
As a society, it seems one man’s “disgusting” tweets have spurred witch hunts, misogyny, homophobia, and conservatism. Hard-earned trust that has taken several individuals’ time to build when it comes to feminist and queer spaces is getting attacked. Whatever little progress we have attained over the years is fast disappearing into thin air.
What hurts the most is that this discourse has given bigots a chance.
Bigots have been vindicated, not because they were right, but because of Ezra’s alleged actions. The people who have always called feminists cloutchasers and queer people predators hiding in plain sight have been rewarded for their hateful words. Religious and conservative leaders are seizing the moment, saying, “This is what happens when you let homosexuality and feminism thrive in our society.”
Some of the visible faces of social progress have been compromised, making it harder to convince Nigerians that these movements are necessary, valid, and worthy of trust.
This is not just another rich man’s downfall. It’s a major setback for our society.
The Next Steps To Be Taken
Over time, society has proven, again and again, that when a man does the worst, the blame always finds its way back to women. It’s time we addressed this phenomenon.
Now, as revealed in his blog, Paystack, the very company he co-founded, fired Ezra Olubi on November 22, 2025, following the scandal. As he claims, this termination was wrong and happened before the investigation was completed.
With that in mind, we need to turn our attention not just to what he did, but to who has been affected. In the midst of all the online rage, backlash, and controversy, we must remember the real victims: those he may have assaulted, the people referenced in those vile tweets, his cats, and queer Nigerians now being persecuted because his scandal has become their burden.
These are the people who matter most.
Redirecting the blame to communities he once supported only empowers homophobia, misogyny, and conservatism. Enough harm has been done, and before the damage worsens, we need to go back to where it all began, not sacrifice the movements he pretended to support. If we continue to let this discourse be dominated by talks of who else is to blame, we’ll lose the progress these movements have been fighting for.
