EFCC arrest Blessing CEO for allegedly collecting ₦36 million to lease out a house that isn't hers

• Blessing CEO has been arraigned by the EFCC over alleged fraud involving ₦36 million linked to a Lekki property deal.

• Prosecutors claim she collected money for a duplex she allegedly had no authority to lease.

• The influencer pleaded not guilty and was remanded in EFCC custody pending bail conditions.

Social media influencer and self-styled relationship therapist Okoro Blessing Nkiruka, popularly known as Blessing CEO, has been arraigned before a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on charges of fraud totalling ₦36 million, and the nature of the alleged crime will feel familiar to anyone who has followed her online career closely.

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned her on Friday, May 15, 2026, before Justice D.I. Dipeolu on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and stealing. 

According to the charge, Blessing allegedly collected ₦36 million from a Mrs. Ifeyinwa Nonye Okoye between July 14 and 17, 2024, under the pretence of leasing a six-bedroom detached duplex at No. 1B, Tunbosun Osobu Street, Off Kuboye Road, Lekki, Lagos. The property, prosecutors allege, was not hers to lease.

The irony will not be lost on her critics. Blessing CEO has, for years, been one of Nigeria's most controversial internet personalities, known as much for her outspoken relationship advice as for a series of allegations that have plagued her public image, including widely circulated claims that she posed with a property she did not own, presenting it as her home to her followers. 

The EFCC charge now places a legal dimension on what had previously been a social media conversation.

At the commencement of proceedings, her defence counsel, P.I. Nwafor, informed the court that Blessing had already refunded ₦24 million of the alleged ₦36 million to the petitioner, and requested an adjournment to resolve the outstanding ₦12 million balance. 

He added that the nominal complainant had agreed that if the balance was paid, they could prevail on the EFCC to drop the case.

The prosecution was unmoved. Counsel S.I. Suleiman told the court that the complainant in the matter was the Federal Government of Nigeria, not the individual petitioner, and that the arraignment would proceed regardless of any private settlement discussions.

Justice Dipeolu agreed, ordering that Blessing take her plea. She pleaded not guilty to both counts.

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The court subsequently ordered that she be remanded in EFCC custody pending the perfection of her bail conditions, rejecting a remand to a correctional facility after her counsel noted she had only been served with the charge the previous day.

The matter has been adjourned to June 5, 2026, for the commencement of the trial.