May Yul-Edochie, the estranged wife of Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie, has escalated her long-running battle against online harassment by filing a formal lawsuit at a Lagos High Court, this time naming her own former lawyer among the defendants she holds responsible for years of alleged attacks on her person and reputation.

The suit, filed through her legal team at Greylaw Partners, targets Emeka Ugwuonye, who once served as her attorney, alongside Yinka Omolola Theisen and several unidentified operators of social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram and X. May is seeking a total of ₦1.5 billion in damages, along with perpetual injunctions to halt the alleged harassment and orders compelling the removal of disputed content from every platform where it has appeared.

The most striking element of the case is the inclusion of Ugwuonye, her former legal representative. May alleges that he breached solicitor-client confidentiality by publicly disclosing sensitive information he had gained access to while representing her, effectively turning privileged knowledge into a weapon against his own former client.

The allegation marks a significant escalation from the cease-and-desist notice she had earlier issued him, in which she had demanded ₦1 billion in damages over similar claims of cyberbullying and breach of professional trust.

The roots of the hostility trace back to 2022, when Yul Edochie publicly announced he had taken a second wife, actress Judy Austin, with whom he already had a child. The revelation blindsided May, who had been married to Yul for over two decades and shares four children with him, and it thrust her into the centre of one of Nollywood’s most talked-about scandals, drawing both public sympathy and sustained online hostility. According to a 126-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the new suit, that hostility never let up, with May alleging a sustained campaign involving manipulated photographs, AI-generated images, fabricated stories, demeaning caricatures and even direct death wishes, all aimed at humiliating her and undermining her commercial standing as a public figure and brand ambassador.

May’s legal team maintains that the lawsuit is aimed squarely at defending her rights, safeguarding her privacy and protecting her professional reputation from further damage, following what they describe as a worsening pattern of harassment despite earlier warnings issued to those involved.

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