More Trouble For Bobrisky as Panel Indicts Four Prison Personnel

Popular Nigerian crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, may face fresh criminal charges over claims of serving his jail term in a private apartment and bribing officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to drop money laundering charges against him.

It would be recalled that Bobrisky was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on April 12 for abusing the naira and was released from prison on August 5.

On September 30, the minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, constituted an investigative panel chaired by the permanent secretary of the ministry of interior, Magdalena Ajani, on ‘Alleged Corruption & Other Violations Against the Nigerian Correctional Service.’ to investigate the controversies surrounding Bobrisky’s release.

Tunji-Ojo ordered a probe after the controversial activist, VeryDarkMan, shared a video in which Bobrisky claimed that he bribed some EFCC officials with N15 million to drop the money laundering charge against him and also bribed officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service to serve his six-month sentence in a private apartment.

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.

However, while presenting its report, the panel said there was no evidence that Bobrisky slept outside the Kirikiri Custodial Centre during his six-month sentence.

Details of the report, obtained by Sunday PUNCH, revealed that a panel set up to investigate Bobrisky’s claims recommended that he should face defamation and criminal charges.

The panel stated that Bobrisky tarnished the image of the correctional service with false claims and asked the Department of State Services to investigate whether, directly or through a proxy, he bribed the EFCC or the correctional service.

The panel also said that if Bobrisky’s bribery allegations are substantiated, he should be charged with corrupt practices.

The report read, “The Nigerian Correctional Service should file defamation suits against Bobrisky under sections 373-375 of the Criminal Code Act for his false claims about bypassing the prison system, tarnishing the institution’s reputation.

“The DSS should be requested to investigate whether Bobrisky, directly or through a proxy, bribed EFCC or NCoS officials. If substantiated, Bobrisky should face charges under the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act for bribing public officials.”

The panel also indicted three correctional officers, including a former Controller of Corrections, Ben Rabbi-Freeman, who were recommended for disciplinary action as outlined in the NCoS’s condition of service, civil service, and applicable laws.

Rabbi-Freeman was accused of “effecting the transfer of Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju without proper documentation of Form 5 and Form 5A from the Medium-Security Custody Centre to the Maximum-Security Custodial Centre on April 22, 2024, after over four months of the transfer date, and after the inmate had ended his imprisonment term; backdating the transfer documentation in relation to 1a and 1b above.

“Causing the in-charge Ikoyi Custodial Centre, in-charge Medium-Security Custodial Centre, and in-charge Maximum-Security Custodial Centre to sign backdated transfer documents in relation to Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju.”

Similarly, the Deputy Controller of Corrections, who was in charge of the Kirikiri Medium Security, Micheal Anugwa, who claimed during a parliamentary inquiry that he had not been suspended despite an official order from the Minister of Interior, was recommended for disciplinary action.

He was indicted for receiving Bobrisky into the Medium Security Custodial Centre without the relevant documentation on April 12, 2024, and without the necessary transfer documentation.

“DCC Balogun Sikiru (retd) — formerly in-charge of Maximum Security Custodial Centre for receiving Bobrisky into the Maximum Security Custodial Centre without the relevant documentation on April 22, 2024, and without the necessary transfer documentation, and DCC Sikiru Kamoru Adekunle who was in charge of the Maximum Security Custodial Centre for backdating the transfer documentation in relation to receiving of Okuneye Idris into the Maximum Security Custodial Centre on April 22, 2024, which was a period he was yet to resume as the in-charge of the Maximum Security Custodial Centre.”

The panel further recommended an audit of all inmates and detainees in all custodial centres of the NCoS, their warrants, and other records, adding that a mechanism should be set up to do this and sustain it as an effective weekly oversight.

It demanded “decommercialisation of all welfare and support services to inmates with immediate effect and ensuring that adequate funding and oversight are put in place to ensure the continuation of these. This will also include building sustainable partnerships with civil society organisations (example, with relevant NGOs and professional associations) on some or all of these.

“Facilitate the effective implementation of non-custodial measures across the entire country to help reduce the number of people in custodial centres by utilising imprisonment only as a last resort.”