Trans socialite did serve her jail term, Nigerian panel finds

A close-up shot of Bobrisky wearing red lipstick, glitter eyeshadow and a gold and black top.

A Nigerian investigative panel has dismissed allegations that transgender socialite Bobrisky, sentenced to six months in jail for abusing the national currency, lived in a flat outside prison and did not serve her full term – but found she did receive other special privileges.

Bobrisky, real name Idris Okuneye, was allowed frequent visits from family and friends, had a furnished single cell, a humidifier, access to television, a fridge and even a phone, the report sound.

She was sent to a male prison for “naira abuse” after throwing banknotes around at a film premier in April.

The court dismissed money laundering charges.

The panel was set up by the ministry of interior to investigate bribery claims made by social media influencer Martins Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, who said officials had been bribed to drop money laundering charges against Bobrisky, who denied this.

Two senior prison officials were suspended over the allegations last month.

The panel said it would need to carry out further investigations to establish whether the privileges provided for Bobrisky “were financially motivated and based on corrupt practices by correctional officers”.

The panel added that sending Bobrisky, a first-time offender, to a maximum security facility had been a violation of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act.

Throwing money in the air, or “spraying” has been a common practice at Nigerian weddings and other celebrations. But it is illegal under the Central Bank of Nigeria Act.

The maximum punishment is six months in jail, however prosecutions were rare until this year.

After her release in August, a viral video of someone purported to be Bobrisky is heard alleging that she paid $9,000 (£7,000) to anti-corruption officials to have the money laundering charges dropped, which prompted the investigation.

It was also claimed that she had paid millions of naira to get a flat near the prison where she allegedly served her jail term.

Bobrisky, who has nearly five million followers on Instagram, denied that it was her voice on the recordings.