By Abiola Olawale
An investigative panel constituted by the Federal Government has released a report regarding the controversies surrounding popular crossdresser Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky.
The executive director and founder of Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Uju Agomoh, made this known on Monday.
Reading the phase one report of the panel at the Ministry of Interior, Agomoh said the panel discovered that Bobrisky served his time in prison from 12th April 2024 to the 5th August 2024.
Agomoh said during this period, Bobrisky was transferred from the Kuje Custodial Centre to the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kirikiri-Apapa, Lagos, and then to the Maximum Security Custodial Centre, from where he was discharged after the completion of his sentence.
The panel, however, said the cross-dresser’s transfer to a maximum security facility as a first offender violated Section 164A and Section 164B of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019.
Agomoh said: “The panel also found that Mr Okuneye Idris enjoyed several privileges while in custody, both at the Medium Security and the Maximum Security Custodial Centres, which include, especially the following: furnished single cells, humidifier, lots of visits by his family members and friends as he desired, self-feeding, designated inmates to run errands for him, access to fridge and television, and possibly access to his phone.
“It is necessary to further investigate if the above privileges provided for Okuneye Idris were financially motivated and based on corrupt practices by correctional officers.
“The panel believes that the peculiar case of the inmates and the inmates’ physical look and behaviour pose a threat, and the lack of laid-down rules for the treatment of such a case may have necessitated such privileges to be granted to Okunenye Idris.
“The panel recommends that clear guidelines need to be set up to guide operations regarding such incidents in future.
“Steps should be taken to avoid the obvious discriminatory practices about the socio-economic levels and other status of inmates.”
It would be recalled that this is coming after the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had ordered a probe after VeryDarkMan, an activist, shared a video in which Bobrisky purportedly claimed that he bribed some Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials to drop the money laundering charge against him.
In the footage, a voice allegedly belonging to Bobrisky also claimed that a “godfather”, alongside Haliru Nababa, the controller general of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), ensured she served the six-month sentence in a private apartment and not in prison.
The constituted investigative panel is chaired by Magdalena Ajani, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior, on ‘Alleged Corruption & Other Violations Against the Nigerian Correctional Service’.
