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Controversial cross-dresser, Bobrisky, may face fresh criminal charges over claims that he served his jail term in a private apartment and allegedly bribed officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to drop money laundering charges against him.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the male babie was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on April 12 for abusing the naira and was released from prison on August 5.
TNG recalls that the minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had ordered a probe after the controversial social media influencer, Martins Oste known as VeryDarkMan, shared an audio recording in which the trans-woman claimed that unnamed “godfather” ensured she served her six-month sentence in a private apartment and not in prison.
Following the controversy, 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.’
Speaking about their findings, the executive director and founder of Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Uju Agomoh in a statement said the panel found no evidence that Bobrisky slept outside the prison walls after he was sentenced but enjoyed several privileges.
However, new details of the report reveals that the panel set up to investigate Bobrisky’s claims recommended that the cross -dresser should face defamation and criminal charges.
The report allegedly 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.”
