The internet is having one of its chaotic weekends, and in the centre of the storm is Paystack co-founder Ezra Olubi, pulled into a messy web of romance, accusation, old tweets, and public outrage.
The drama erupted after Max ‘Makispoke’ Obae, a US-based entrepreneur, hosted an intense X Space titled My Piece, where she accused Olubi whom she referred to as “John Doe” of misogyny and psychological abuse.
Obae narrated a timeline stretching from her teenage years in Lagos to her years in New York and finally Lagos again in 2023. She said she first met Olubi at 19 through a Twitter mutual and described their early interactions as distant but cordial.
She recalled meeting Olubi in Ikeja with another friend, “Charles,” who made a remark she felt was deeply misogynistic. The comment, she said, shaped her first impression of the group, even though she noted that it came from Charles, not Olubi.
For years, she said she and Olubi simply followed each other on Twitter without forming a close bond. The relationship changed in 2016 when Olubi visited her in New York shortly after Paystack began its rise.
Obae said he spent a weekend at her apartment and that she saw him as “a very decent guy,” someone she perceived as queer and feminist because of his public presentation. She said she was unaware he had any romantic interest in her.
The real turning point happened in 2023 when Obae, now married to a woman, reconnected with him in Lagos. She said she proposed the idea of integrating him into their “polycule,” a consensual non-monogamous relationship network, partly because she believed his financial stability could help her leave corporate America.
She said he embraced the idea, expressing similar dreams of building a community. By her account, this created a period of optimism where all parties imagined a partnership that blended romance, community, and mutual support.
Breakdown Driven By Power Imbalance
Things began to collapse after she learned he was allegedly involved sexually with a female subordinate. She said she believed the relationship was ethically wrong regardless of who initiated it, arguing that the power imbalance made it unacceptable.
The final rupture, she said, came after their first sexual encounter. She claimed his behaviour toward her became “extremely rude” and “hostile,” creating a sharp contrast with how warmly he treated her wife.
She described this disconnect as evidence of psychological manipulation. In her words, it felt like a “cult leader” dynamic where “your way is perfect and anything else is wrong.”
She said she began documenting his rude behaviour, noting that the longer she observed him, the more she felt he presented a false public image to lure women into situations where he could “systematically abuse them.”
Obae Keeps Receipts And A Loan Acknowledgment
Obae said she received a $55,000 loan from Olubi, which she intends to repay. She also released a photo taken in Lagos in May 2024 showing herself, her wife, and Olubi together as part of her timeline of events.
Her Space included long quotes, reflecting her emotional account of how the relationship evolved. Below are excerpts she shared during her narration:
“I met John Doe for the first time when I was 19 years old. This was in Ikeja, where I lived. I met John Doe through a friend—a mutual—because we were all mutuals on Twitter. We followed each other for several years. John Doe came to my house with someone else, I’ll call Charles, and we went out.”
“I definitely got the feeling that there was a little bit of hatred towards women, not necessarily from John Doe, but from Charles, because what had happened was when I walked into The Londoner with the two of them, then there were all these people looking at me. Charles looked at me and made a comment, going, ‘oh, so, you know, you must really feel like you’re pretty’?”
“That comment stuck in my head because I was like, it’s only misogynistic men that notice those kinds of things and try to make women feel bad for being beautiful or for being recognised.”
“So then over the years. I did not have a close relationship with John Doe.”
“I did not have a real friendship with John Doe. It was just Twitter mutuals. Then fast forward to 2016 in New York, John Doe reaches out to me, comes to my apartment in New York and spends like a weekend with me.”
“And this is the beginning of when they are working on their company. And at the time, I actually thought this was a very decent guy.”
“And so John Doe comes to my house. We spent the weekend together. It was great. It was fantastic. And that was where we took a set of pictures.”
“I was like, I did not realise you had a crush on me or anything like that. This person sent me that note last year. So I was like, oh, okay, I guess this has been a long-time crush that they have had on me because I just did not look at them that way at all. I was dating women for the most part in 2016 and 2017. I was not even dating men.”
“When I am housewarming and buying stuff, John Doe reaches out and I was like, ‘oh, I will be happy to get you a gift’. And then I got a rug. And that was like the last communication with this person for the most part, except I think there was some thread on Twitter where this John Doe was being attacked.”
“And I had been, like, in defense of this person. I have always had an admiration for what I perceive to be bravery, for being so out there in a way that is not common. I had even inadvertently referred to this person as queer because I thought that this person was queer based on the presentation.”
“By the way, in the middle of all this, I got engaged to another man. I was never in a relationship with this person. I just really was not. So I did not even see the person that way at all. But then in the summer of 2023, and I am in Lagos, and I am visiting John.”
“And I was like, you know, my partner and I are one of those couples that want to have a community of friends and potential lovers and potential partners because we really believe that there’s strength in numbers.”
“And then John Doe was like ‘that’s exactly how I see the world too. I also want community. I also want to be part of a big thing’.”
“So then fast forward to several months later, I speak to my partner, and I was like, I feel like maybe we should ask John Doe to be part of our thing.”
“My reasoning was that he has money. Yes, 100%. Like I said, I have never had any interest in this person. It was because I wanted to leave corporate America, and I saw this as an opportunity for me to leave corporate America. So it was not like a long-term desire for the money.”
“Fast forward to the winter of last year. I went to Nigeria, and I had the knowledge that he was apparently sexually involved with at least one subordinate.”
“And the way that it was explained to me was that it was she who initiated and started the situation. But I do not really personally believe that it does not matter who initiates. If you are a boss and you are sleeping with (sic) your subordinate, it is just wrong.”
“Between like end of December 2023 and February, I started noticing some weird, controlling, rude things about this person. I just kept noticing it and making notes of it in my head and kind of talking to my partner about it. Like, I feel like there is something a little bit weird and rude, really, about this person’s behaviour. But, like, this was, again, long distance.”
“I feel like that was the first time we had sex. And immediately after that experience, it was like the rudeness just went up. It was like going from zero to 100. So imagine going from knowing this person, who came to my house in New York in 2016, who was so sweet and so nice to suddenly this rude guy. Extremely rude guy.”
“And then the thing that kept jarring me was my experience of them, and then my partner’s experience of them didn’t jive. Because, you know I feel like I believe it is because he had not slept with her.”
“About the friendships, the so-called friendships, about the so-called inner circle. It felt very much like a cult leader. I call it psychological sadism. This idea that your way is perfect and anything else that is not your way is wrong. That’s literally what I felt like when I was there the whole time.”
Ezra’s Old Tweets Resurfaces
After the Space, users on X began digging through Olubi’s old tweets from around 2010. They resurfaced screenshots that contained disturbing statements describing sexual attraction to “young, innocent, and clueless girls,” comments complaining about being “deprived of watching 16-year-olds’ nudes,” and bizarre claims of having sex with a cat and a squirrel.
One of the resurfaced posts even referenced possibly contracting an STD from the cat. These tweets, once circulated widely, triggered a far more explosive backlash than Obae’s original story.
People accused him of promoting paedophilia, misogyny, and bestiality. The criticism grew louder as more users expressed disbelief at how such posts had gone unnoticed for so long.
Public Calls For Investigation
Tech founder Hanu Fejiro Agbodje, CEO of Patricia, added fuel to the fire with a direct call for legal action. He wrote on X: “It’s very clear Ezra… is a pedophile and misogynist, he needs to be investigated and he should be locked up”.
The demand quickly gained traction, with many users echoing the call for an official probe. Some argued that jokes or “edgy tweets” could not explain away statements involving minors and animals.
A Crisis For Paystack’s Public Image
Paystack, though not implicated, has been dragged into the conversation because Olubi is one of its most recognisable co-founders. The fintech giant, now owned by Stripe, has not issued a public statement at the time of writing.
The situation has grown into a full-blown reputational crisis, watched closely by Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, global investors, and regulators.
