The Federal Government investigative panel, set up to address the controversy surrounding the jail sentence of Nigerian crossdresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has released its findings.
On September 30, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, established the panel, led by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Magdalena Ajani, to investigate allegations of corruption and other violations against the Nigerian Correctional Service.
Tunji-Ojo initiated the probe after the activist VeryDarkMan posted a video in which Bobrisky allegedly claimed to have bribed officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to dismiss money laundering charges against him. In the video, a voice attributed to Bobrisky also stated that a “godfather” and Haliru Nababa, the controller general of the NCoS, arranged for Bobrisky to serve his six-month sentence in a private apartment instead of prison.
During the presentation of the panel’s phase one report at the Ministry of Interior on Monday, Uju Agomoh, executive director and founder of Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, stated that the panel found no evidence indicating that Bobrisky spent any time outside the custodial facility following his sentencing, but confirmed that he enjoyed several privileges while in custody.
“The panel did not find any evidence thus far that suggested that Mr Okuneye slept outside the custodial centre during the period of his imprisonment, which was from 12th April 2024 to the 5th August 2024, which is a six-month correctional sentence with the usual remission applicable,” Agomoh stated.
The report added, “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 inmate and the inmate’s 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 in relation to the socio-economic levels and other status of inmates.”
