A prominent Nigerian tech entrepreneur’s digital past has erupted into a firestorm of condemnation, forcing him to retreat from online public view.
Ezra Olubi (known as @0x), the co-founder and chief technology officer of Paystack — the Lagos-based payment processor acquired by Stripe in 2020 for a reported $200 million — deactivated his X account this week after screenshots of graphic, sexually explicit tweets from over a decade ago went viral across the platform.
The posts, dating back to 2010-2013 when Olubi was in his early 20s, have been widely described as pedophilic, zoophilic, and deeply invasive, prompting calls for accountability from victims’ advocates, feminists, and former admirers in Nigeria’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.
The controversy, which exploded online in the early hours of November 13, 2025, appears to stem from a recent personal dispute that escalated into a broader exposé.
Olubi had been entangled in a public fallout involving a non-monogamous relationship — or “polycule” — with two women in Lagos’s progressive circles.
The acrimonious split, which surfaced around October 28, led one of the women to accuse Olubi’s close allies of complicity in enabling his behavior, according to multiple X users who chronicled the drama.
What began as interpersonal recriminations quickly unearthed Olubi’s archived posts, amplifying them into an online scandal.
A Trail of Disturbing Revelations
The resurfaced tweets, shared in viral threads and compilations by X, paint a picture of youthful indiscretion that many now view as predatory.
Among the most cited examples: Olubi allegedly joked about installing audio recorders in his bathroom to eavesdrop on female friends’ private moments, sexualizing minors through objectifying comparisons, and expressing attraction to animals in explicit terms.
One screenshot, circulating widely on Instagram and Nigerian blogs, quotes him as saying, “I judge my female friends by the sound their pee makes. Thanks to the audio recorder in my bathroom,” a line that has elicited visceral reactions of horror.
Other posts referenced fetishes involving coworkers, power imbalances in professional settings, and non-consensual surveillance.
“Pedophilia, zoophilia, inappropriate sexual tweets about coworkers, bestiality tweets, sexual assaults,” one X user noted in screenshots.
Olubi’s account, which boasts over 100,000 followers, went dark, displaying only a “This account doesn’t exist” message.
Neither he nor Paystack has issued a public statement as of late evening on Thursday, November 13th.
From Tech Darling to Pariah
A self-taught engineer from Lagos, Olubi co-founded Paystack in 2015 alongside Shola Alemoru and others, addressing a glaring gap in reliable online payments for African businesses.
Under his technical leadership, the platform processed billions in transactions, serving over 60,000 merchants across the continent and earning accolades as the “Stripe of Africa.”
The 2020 acquisition by Stripe catapulted Olubi into global fintech circles, where he became a vocal advocate for inclusive innovation, women’s empowerment in tech, and progressive causes.
His public persona blended irreverent humor with introspection: X posts mused on fatherhood, Lagos traffic woes, and the “culture of friendship” at Paystack.
Yet, Olubi’s style — androgynous fashion choices at his 2021 wedding that sparked homophobic backlash — had already drawn scrutiny in conservative quarters.
This week’s revelations, however, strike at a deeper vein, exposing a rift between his curated image and private expressions.
The polycule drama added fuel to the fire. In late October, the bisexual woman at the relationship’s center publicly shamed Olubi’s “BFFs” — a network of feminists and tech peers — for their reticence, questioning why they overlooked red flags.
“Are you now going to speak up?” she wrote in a now-deleted thread, per screenshots. This prompted the tweet-digging frenzy.
Outrage and Defense
Reactions poured in swiftly, blending moral revulsion with pointed critiques of power dynamics.
Big Brother Naija alumna Vee Iye, known for her advocacy on women’s issues, issued a stark warning to her followers, advising caution in dealings with influential men, implicitly nodding to Olubi’s case.
“We really need to normalize checking a potential partner’s social media before saying ‘yes,’” one X user tweeted.
Some feminist voices decried the hypocrisy: “But he’s the benefactor of Nigerian feminists so he’s cool and they will rather keep quiet,” one post lamented, highlighting Olubi’s history of mentoring and funding women-led startups.
There have been calls for Paystack to make a public statement on the issue
“First thing tomorrow morning, the Paystack PR team has to put out a strong-worded statement denouncing Ezra Olubi’s wild, deranged, pervasive, and pedophilic tweets,” one user posted.
Not all responses were condemnatory. A handful defended the tweets as “jokes” from Olubi’s “artistic” youth, with one developer lamenting, “Not gonna lie [sic] Ezra Olubi is my biggest tech motivation and inspiration.”
Ripple Effects or just another Blip on Social Media?
For the most part, Paystack’s brand has been relatively clean and free from controversy.
But in April 2025, the company was fined 250 million naira ($150,000) by Nigeria’s central bank for an unapproved app launch.
Aside from the fine, the fintech has been seen positively by the online community and the tech ecosystem at large.
Whether the fallout from Olubi’s tweet causes more ripples is hard to guess. If Olubi does reactivate his account, it is expected that there will be an apology due to internal and external pressure from the company and the tech community.
Or Olubi could stay off X and just find solace in the real world, waiting for the outrage to die down.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
