Bobrisky saga: Interior Minister calls for institutional reform

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Tuesday, weighed in on the controversy surrounding popular cross-dresser Bobrisky, whose real name is Idris Okuneye.

The Bobrisky saga, which has been making headlines for months, revolves around his jail time for naira abuse and allegations of special treatment in prison.

According to Tunji-Ojo, the incident is a reflection of deeper institutional issues in the country. “When you have an institutional problem, you don’t just provide a knee-jerk approach to solving it,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“We set up that committee to look into all the issues, beyond Bobrisky, beyond people absconding – it is a whole institutional issue.”

The minister emphasized the need for institutional reform to prevent similar issues from arising in the future. “We cannot transfer today’s problem to the future,” he stressed.

Read Also: Atiku, IPAC, caution INEC, security agencies on Ondo guber election

The controversy began when blogger Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, alleged that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officers collected ₦15 million from Bobrisky to drop money laundering charges.

Bobrisky was sentenced to six months imprisonment in April 2024 and released in August. Otse also claimed that Bobrisky paid millions of naira to secure preferential treatment in prison.

Bobrisky has denied the allegations, while the EFCC and Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) have launched investigations. The House of Representatives has also invited those involved for a probe, and the Federal Government suspended some NCoS senior officers.

On September 30, 2024, Tunji-Ojo inaugurated a committee to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the NCoS. The panel found no evidence that Bobrisky slept outside the custodial center during his imprisonment.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now