Paystack has suspended its co-founder, Ezra Olubi, over sexual misconduct.
Newsone Nigeria reports that Stripe-owned Nigerian fintech giant, Paystack, has yanked its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Ezra Olubi, off duty following a disturbing sexual misconduct allegation that erupted across social media on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
Paysatck in a confirmation to TechCabal, admitted that Olubi had been suspended, adding that a “formal investigation” had now been launched into the claims involving a subordinate.
The online storm has also reignited scrutiny of several decade-old tweets linked to Olubi, including sexually explicit posts referencing colleagues and minors — material that has triggered outrage and intense public debate.
TechCabal reported that it reached out to Olubi via email for comments, but he had not responded as of the time of filing the report.
“Paystack is aware of the allegations involving our Co-founder, Ezra Olubi,” the company told TechCabal in a statement.
“We take matters of this nature extremely seriously. Effective immediately, Ezra has been suspended from all duties and responsibilities pending the outcome of a formal investigation.”
“Out of respect for the individuals involved and to protect the integrity of the process, we will not be commenting further until the investigation is complete,” Paystack said.
Olubi published a series of tweets laced with sexually explicit jokes about colleagues between 2009 and 2013 – he described getting erections during meetings, referenced wanting to photograph a coworker’s thighs, and made remarks involving minors and sexualised anime characters.
One tweet from May 23, 2011, stated: “Monday will be more fun with an ‘a’ in it. Touch a coworker today. Inappropriately.”
The old posts, made years before he co-founded Paystack, resurfaced on Thursday and rapidly spread across X, triggering renewed outrage.
Their re-emergence has intensified public scrutiny as Paystack probes the misconduct allegation, fuelling wider debate about workplace boundaries and the conduct expected from senior figures in the tech ecosystem.
Olubi has yet to publicly comment on the tweets or the sexual misconduct accusation.
He also deactivated his X account on Wednesday, November 13, 2025.
Olubi’s tweets resurface in an ecosystem that has had to confront multiple incidents of workplace misconduct involving tech leaders in the past few years.
More recently, in October, Oscar Limoke, the CEO of Kenyan IT firm Pawa IT Solutions, was fined by the country’s Employment and Labour Relations Court over sexual harassment and assault allegations that forced a staff member to resign.
Paystack is one of Africa’s most significant technology companies. Founded in 2015, it became one of Y-Combinator’s earliest African investments, and its 2020 acquisition for $200 million remains one of the continent’s most significant exits. Its alumni have gone on to found startups across logistics, fintech, and financial infrastructure.
Because of Paystack’s size, influence, and close association with global payments giant Stripe, the handling of this investigation will be closely watched across the sector. It raises questions about governance in high-trust companies, how allegations involving senior leadership are managed, and what standards employees and the public should expect from companies that describe themselves as value-driven.
Meanwhile, Newsone reports that Paystack has long emphasised values such as transparency, clear communication, and kindness in its public employer-brand messaging and reviews from former staff. The resurfaced tweets, despite being more than a decade old, have prompted scrutiny of how senior leaders embody those commitments and how consistently such values are upheld in practice.
