September 30, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCF), on Monday, said that popular crossdresser, Bobrisky, whose real name is Idris Okuneye, was kept in protective custody while serving jail term after he was convicted of currency mutilation.
Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), In-Charge of Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Kiri-Kiri, Lagos State, Michael Benson, disclosed this at the House of Representatives hearing on the alleged bribery scandal involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).
Benson told the lawmakers that Bobrisky, who was registered as a male, was not locked up in the general cell with other inmates because of his unique physical characteristics and safety.
“Though male, he has some female features; he has breasts and this is the original medical examination done by the facility’s medical doctor. The admission board had to enter a meeting to discuss the best practices, and we arrived at the decision to put him in protective custody in our P ward room 2 of the facility.
“During admission, there is what we call classification of inmates. In his case, it was peculiar and we had to take peculiar steps,” he said.
He denied that Bobrisky served his sentence in an apartment outside the custodial facility in Lagos due to financial inducements.
THEWILL earlier reported that a Joint Committee of the National Assembly had summoned the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede; Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; Bobrisky; and VeryDarkMan (VDM), to appear before it over the bribery scandal involving officers of the EFCC and Correctional Service following a recorded conversation involving Bobrisky that was leaked on social media by Blogger, Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan.
In the letter dated September 27, 2024, the committee asked the EFCC Chairman and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service to appear on Monday, September 30th, with all officers involved in the allegation.
The allegation of bribery against the anti-graft agency and the Nigerian Correctional Service followed a trending social media voice conversation involving Bobrisky.
In that conversation, Bobrisky, who was convicted for abuse of the Naira, the national currency, disclosed that he allegedly paid N15 million to unnamed EFCC officials to drop charges of money laundering preferred against him and that he served his six-month sentence in a VIP facility, instead of the Kiri-Kiri Medium Custodial Centre, Lagos.
Following the revelations, EFCC Chairman and Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, ordered an investigation which led to the suspension of two senior officers of the NCoS.
Meanwhile, Blogger VeryDarkMan has revealed how he got the controversial phone recording of Bobrisky.
He told the lawmakers on Monday, that the trending audio record was received from someone whom Bobrisky owed money.
The Chairman of the Committee, Ginger Onwusibe, however, said the person who made the audio recording must also appear at the next hearing.
Representative of the EFCC, Bilikisu Buhari, told the lawmakers that the allegations of money laundering against Bobrisky were dropped because of his confessional statement on naira abuse in court.
“There was no form of financial inducement to any member of the commission. All we did was in line with the core values of the commission,” she said.
Bobrisky’s lawyer, Averosoghene Omuvwie, told the committee that his client could not honour the invitation due to illness. The committee frowned at this and demanded he must appear at the next hearing.
