Abimbola Olajumoke Olawumi, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, has been remanded in prison custody following her continued legal battle with the Chief Executive Officer of YSJ Agro-Allied Limited, Yemisi Joluwe.
The order was made by a Magistrate Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti in a case involving allegations of defamation, cyberbullying and kidnapping.
Olawumi was reportedly sent to custody for one month after the court revoked an earlier bail granted to her.
The decision followed her failure to appear before the court at the next scheduled sitting.
The court subsequently ordered that she remain in custody pending the next stage of the proceedings. The matter has been adjourned until September 15, 2026.
The case was instituted following a complaint by Joluwe, who accused Olawumi of making statements she considered damaging to her reputation and the image of her agricultural company.
Joluwe maintained that the legal action was not aimed at preventing criticism of YSJ Farms.
She said the company was prepared to accept legitimate complaints but would not allow what she described as deliberate attempts to damage its reputation.
“At YSJ Farms, we have always welcomed constructive feedback and public scrutiny,” she said.
She added: “However, there is a clear distinction between a genuine complaint and a deliberate, malicious attempt to destroy a company’s hard-earned reputation.”
Joluwe further alleged that some of the claims made against her and the company were false and had the potential to undermine the confidence of investors, employees, customers and other stakeholders.
She described the statements attributed to Olawumi as “blatantly false” and accused the governorship aspirant of attempting to damage the corporate integrity of YSJ Farms.
“We have a duty to our investors, our employees and our customers to fiercely protect the YSJ brand from baseless slander,” she said.
The YSJ Farms chief executive also stressed that the legal dispute had not stopped the company from carrying out its activities in Ekiti State.
According to her, the company remains involved in agriculture, food production and youth empowerment programmes.
She said the company was particularly interested in ensuring that its partners and other stakeholders were not unsettled by the allegations surrounding the dispute.
“Our primary goal is very simple: the complete restoration of the truth,” Joluwe said. “We are seeking a formal retraction, a public apology and appropriate damages for the harm caused to our brand.”
The case has also drawn attention because of separate allegations involving the alleged kidnapping of workers at the farm and the reported murder of one of the company’s staff members.
Joluwe said security agencies were already looking into those allegations.
“Security agencies are investigating the alleged involvement of Abimbola Olajumoke in the kidnapping and murder of our staff. We are determined to follow the process to a logical conclusion,” she said.
She, however, did not indicate that the court proceedings amounted to a conviction over the allegations. The criminal allegations remain subject to judicial proceedings.
Joluwe also said the company had continued to work with security agencies and the Ekiti State Government to protect workers and other people operating within its farm clusters.
“Our youths are currently at the farms, working diligently and earning their honest pay, and we are glad that the partnership is yielding positive results for Ekiti youths,” she said.
Recall, the APC member had entered the 2026 governorship contest and obtained the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms alongside Governor Biodun Oyebanji and another aspirant, Kayode Ojo.
Her attempt to secure the APC ticket was, however, unsuccessful, and she subsequently challenged her exclusion from the party’s nomination process in court.
In April, Olawumi approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja after the Federal High Court dismissed her suit challenging her disqualification.
The Federal High Court had held that the case was statute-barred because it was filed more than the 14-day period allowed for the pre-election matter.
The legal battle over the APC governorship contest continued even as the criminal case involving Joluwe emerged.
In June, the Court of Appeal also dismissed an application filed by Olawumi seeking to reopen her appeal in the governorship dispute.
The appellate court criticised the application in strong terms and described it as an abuse of the judicial process.
The latest criminal case became public in July after Olawumi was brought before the Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ado-Ekiti.
At the initial proceedings, the police brought four charges against her relating to alleged blackmail, threatening messages and false accusations made through social media.
The prosecution alleged that she published the photographs and addresses of Joluwe and two other individuals on Facebook and TikTok alongside threatening messages.
One of the allegations was that Olawumi accused Joluwe of embezzling money belonging to the Ekiti State Government without justification.
Olawumi pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun had initially admitted her to bail on self-recognition and adjourned the case for further hearing.
After her arrest in July, Olawumi had also alleged that she was abducted while travelling from the Federal Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court in Abuja.
She claimed that men linked to the Ekiti State Police Command took her to Ado-Ekiti.
The Ekiti State Government subsequently denied any involvement in her alleged abduction or arrest, saying it had no hand in the matter.
Joluwe later acknowledged that she had petitioned security agencies against Olawumi. She accused the APC aspirant of blackmail, cyber harassment and publishing her personal telephone number online.
She also linked her complaint to allegations involving the kidnapping of two of her workers, one of whom she said was later killed.
