The family of an 18-year-old UTME candidate, Kingsley Akunemeihe, has appealed to businessman Tony Elumelu to withdraw a complaint that led to the teenager’s arrest over a viral post claiming Elumelu had divorced his wife.
The incident has sparked concern over the arrest of the student shortly after writing his JAMB exam.
Teen arrested after exam
Kingsley was reportedly arrested on April 18 while returning from his Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
His sister, Ngozi Akunemeihe, said he was taken into custody and has remained detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department for over a week.
“He was coming back from his JAMB exam when he was arrested and never got home,” she said.
Family claims post was reshared
According to Ngozi, the controversial post did not originate from her brother.
She explained that he only reshared it from another account on X, believing it to be true at the time.
After being alerted that the claim was false and defamatory, she said he deleted the post and issued a public apology.
“He realised it was wrong and apologised. The apology is still on his handle,” she said.
Appeal for leniency
The family said the teenager was arrested about 10 days after the incident despite his apology.
Ngozi pleaded with Elumelu to consider her brother’s age and show mercy.
“He is just 18… a teenager who acted out of ignorance. I am begging you to withdraw the complaint so that he can come back home,” she said.
Growing concerns
The case has raised questions about the treatment of young social media users and the consequences of sharing unverified information online.
As of the time of filing this report, there has been no official response from Tony Elumelu regarding the family’s appeal.

