BOBRISKY, SELECTIVE JUSTICE AND THE REST OF US (Watch the videos)

 BOBRISKY, SELECTIVE JUSTICE AND THE REST OF US

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested controversial celebrity transgender personality, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, for offences ranging from Money Laundering to  currency mutilation and abuse of the Naira.

He was arrested on Wednesday and has been in detention.

EFCC, on Thursday, filed six counts bordering on money laundering and abuse of the naira on Bobrisky.

The Commission, will today (Friday) arraign Idris  Olanrewaju Okuneye before the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Bobrisky will be arraigned before the vacation judge, Justice Abimbola Awogboro.

In the charge sheet filed by EFCC prosecutors, Bobrisky will be arraigned on a six-count charge.

The charges include:

1.   That Bobrisky, while trading under the name and style of Bob Express between September  1, 2021 and April 4, 2024 in Lagos, failed to submit to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, a declaration of the activities of the said company, (Bob Express) within which period the total sum of N127. 7m was paid into the company account domiciled with Ecobank.

2.   Failing to submit a declaration of the activities of the company within the same period when another N53m was paid into the company’s account.

3.   On March 24, 2024, he was alleged to have tampered with the sum of N400,000 by spraying the same while dancing at a social event at the IMAX Circle Mall, Lekki, Lagos.

4.   Between July and August 2023 at Aja Junction, Ikorodu he tampered with another sum of N50,000 by spraying same at a social event while dancing.

5.   In December 2023 at White Steve Event Hall, Ikeja, Bobrisky also sprayed and tampered with another sum of N20,000 while dancing.

6.   spraying and tampering with another sum of N20,000 while dancing at another event in Oniru, Victoria Island.

The charges stemmed from social media videos that appeared to show her throwing money in the air at a film premiere the previous month.

The offences committed, According to EFCC, contravened  Sections  6 (1)(a), and  19(1) (f) of the Money Laundering (Prevention And Prohibition) Act and were punishable under Section 19 (2) (b) of the same Act.

Bobrisky, who had been in the EFCC detention since Wednesday, night, failed to meet the administrative bail offered him on Thursday.

Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju (born 31 August 1991), predominantly known as Bobrisky, is a Nigerian transgender and LGBTQ personality.

LGBTQ is acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer.

He is also known for his presence on the social media apps Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram.  He has gone viral on TikTok for creating the "bobrisky dance" in 2021.

Bobrisky attended King’s High School, Lagos and Okota High School, Lagos for her secondary school education, and studied and graduated with a BSc Accounting from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Nigeria.

He became recognized as being highly controversial on social media for not adhering to conservative Nigerian standards. Bobrisky has a huge following on social media. He was able to garner traffic to her Snapchat account when she claimed she had a lover who is assumed to be of masculine gender despite the law in Nigeria stating that same sex relationships is an offence punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment. On 8 July 2021, she revealed a new physical appearance after undergoing surgery to become more feminine.

Section 21(3) of the CBN Act specifically forbids Nigerians to spray or throw the national currency at social occasions.

The section says, “For the avoidance of doubt, spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Bank during social occasions or otherwise howsoever, shall constitute an abuse and defacing of the Naira or such note and shall be punishable under subsection (1) of this section.”

According to the section, “A person who tampers with a coin or note issued by the Bank is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50,000 or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

Abuse of the Naira includes such acts as

·         Spraying naira notes.

·         Hawking naira notes.

·         Using naira notes for money bouquet.

·         Throwing bundles of naira notes.

·         Loading naira notes into spray guns to spray at parties.

·         Defacing naira notes, like dancing, or writing on them.

·         Squeezing of naira notes.

Bobrisky is not the first Nigerian to get in trouble for abusing naira notes, as many others have been arrested for a range of the above-stated violations.

Most recently, in February 2024, Nollywood actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, was sentenced to six months imprisonment for spraying and dancing on naira notes. The court also gave her an option of a fine of ₦300,000.

The habit of spraying bank notes at parties and events, despite being illegal, gas become an acceptable norm in our society. All other tribes and peoples have copied and even surpassed the Yoruba in the act.

Musicians and entertainers live on the money sprayed at parties.

Masters of Ceremony and comperes are not left behind in the harvest at occasions.

Bobrisky is not new to spraying money at parties. He might not even know it is illegal, maybe because everybody else was doing it.

There is barely any socialite, celebrity or noveau-rich that does not indulge in the illegality.

They get away unpunished.

I am not a fan of Bobrisky or any sexually queer person. However justice must not be selective. Videos of people spraying money at parties are viral on social media. High ranking government executives, business men, legislators and various individuals of high societal ranking engage in the act.

A wedding ceremony will be adjudged improper if some money is not sprayed at the occasion. A funeral is not regarded as befitting if the children didn’t spray money.

If they were not arrested or prosecuted then why Idris Okuneye? Maybe if he was just Idris and not Bobrisky he could have committed the crime and gone unnoticed.

So much for Idris “Bobrisky” Okuneye and the court today.

The law in Nigeria does not seem to apply to everybody, at least not equally. The powerful, influential and the connected in Nigeria are virtually above the law.

Knowing bandits or terrorists and associating with them is regarded as a heinous crime. Yet, Shehu Gumi says it for anybody who cares to listen that he wines and dines with the criminals. Till date nobody has declared the cleric wanted.

Law and justice should not be applied selectively and whatever is sauce for Bobrisky should be sauce for Obi Cubana or that guy dancing in front of Wasiu Ayinde.

I hope the arraignment of Bobrisky will serve to send a message to others and the EFCC will apply the same law to everybody, equally.

Justice applied selectively is Injustice.