News
Bobrisky, VDM, Falz And Our Very Dark End (1) [OPINION]

Tunde Odesola
I’m no Catholic but I wish to make a confession. The headline of this article should have been one of these two: “Bobrisky: The beauty and the beast” or “Bobrisky: The lion and the jewel.” I prefer the first headline to the second for the simple reason that nothing is jewelling about the ongoing Bobrisky saga, though I can’t ever get tired of reading Wole Soyinka’s fourth play written in 1959 after ‘The Invention’ (1957), ‘The Swamp Dwellers’ (1958), and ‘A Quality of Violence’ (1959). However, I ran with the headline of this article because of its encompassing nature. Only journalists will understand.
Simply put, the tripodal tango among Baroka; the Lion, Sidi; the Jewel, and Lakunle; the Semi-illiterate teacher, mirrors the interplay between tradition and modernisation just as the Bobrisky prison saga underscores the effects of corruption, misgovernance and social media on a decadent society.
Do you love to explore wildlife? Come with me, then.
Gold is the mane on his head. So are his weapons of death. Those unlucky to come across him on the day the road is famished never lived to tell the story. They carry to Alákejí, the land of the dead, telltale signs of the king’s deadly weaponry on their mutilated necks, torsos and faces.
By virtue of hailing from the lineage of fearless hunters who fought in the Kiriji War at Ìgbájo, the citadel of the brave, I understand the language of wildlife but I don’t flaunt my mystical powers over the lords of the wild, because self-preservation is the first law of the jungle.
I say to you, there’s no other beast bejewelled with gold like the lion; gold mane, gold teeth, gold claws, gold eyes and gold skin. Out of respect, I won’t engage in tangling toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball with a lion. Verily, I say unto you, the fearsome majesty and golden nature of the lion could only have been forged in the furnace of bestiality.
May it not be your portion to come face-to-face with the golden beast, whom many Africans erroneously call the king of the jungle, because its striped big brother, the tiger, is not native to our land. But wildlife experts have, time and again, proved that the tiger is stronger than the lion.
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Between February and September, this year, there has been two reported cases of lion attacks on humans in Nigeria, both resulting in death. The first tragedy was at the zoo of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where a seasoned veterinary technologist, Mr Bode Olawuyi, was mauled by a lion while the latest fatality occurred at the zoo of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, where a zookeeper, Babaji Daule, was killed by another golden beast.
Losing two lives to lions within seven months raises eyebrows over zoo management in the country, because both attacks were the outcomes of human errors – Man forgot to cinch the dens’ locks. Potentially, more human lives could have been lost in both attacks. While I sympathise with the families of both victims and pray for the repose of their souls, it behoves regulatory institutions to have a look at wildlife handling across the country.
But it’s not only Olawuyi and Daule who are victims, the lions are victims, too. Though human life is considered worthier than lion life, the two lions that attacked Olawuyi and Daule respectively were only acting true to their God-endowed DNA. Sadly, however, they got killed for being what they were created to be. Their death is like killing a dog for barking or a cock for crowing.
Because of their genetic code, lions cannot feel guilt for killing because they’re born to kill. Domestication can’t remove the lion in lions. Stretching the argument a little further, what Man calls natural disasters – flooding, erosion, famine, wildfires etc – are essentially man-made. Man, therefore, needs to look in the mirror.
At birth, his parents christened him Olanrewaju Idris Okuneye. That was 33 years ago. When he underwent remodelling, however, he took a risk, picked a new name, Bobrisky, and bided his time before adding an alias, “Mummy of Lagos”, to the new name while a decadent society applauded.
With a steady stream of clientele, life as a retooled piece of work was good for former Mr Olanrewaju Idris Okuneye. So, he upped the scale by desiring enhanced boobs and booty but never got the guts to replace his dangler with a slit. That was why he identified as a man when he came before Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, during his arraignment and conviction for naira abuse on April 12, 2024.
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In the eyes of the law, the self-acclaimed Mummy of Lagos is either a Daddy or a Zaddy. And because he’s physiologically and confessionally a male, the lie by prison officials about their purported confusion over which jail, male or female, to put Bobrisky into, is brainless.
As I said in an earlier article on Bobrisky, it would not be utterly wrong for Bobrisky, a man, to go into a female restroom on account of his identification as a female, because he would pose a threat to biological females. Bobrisky and his ilk are in the minority. Therefore, when using a public bathroom, his right to freely identify as a woman should be subsumed under the right of biological females who are in the majority, and who would naturally frown on a man sharing the same bathroom with them.
In Africa, particularly Nigeria, names mostly embody the ancestries, births or characters of the bearers. Names have meaningful meanings. From the get-go, the risk in Bobrisky’s name was never in doubt as Idris, like a rolling stone, has moved from one controversy to another since he identified as a female.
Freed on August 5, 2024, after serving time for naira abuse, Bobrisky landed in another hot soup in September 2024, after he claimed in a leaked phone call that he didn’t serve his six-month sentence in jail and that his anonymous godfather paid the EFCC N15 million to drop the money laundering charges against him.
Like the cases of the lion attacks in Ife and Abeokuta, which have different layers of victims, the ongoing Bobrisky saga also has different layers of victims. I shall come to that later.
In the phone call, Bobrisky, an adult male born with Adam’s apple aka gògògóngò, which the Yoruba believe to be the stopper that keeps the secrets brimming in a man’s belly from spilling out of his mouth, spewed the secrets of the clandestine favour wrought by his godfather, like a four-year-old showing off her new doll to her playmates.
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In the leaked phone call, which contains actionable innuendos, a voice purported to be Bobrisky’s spoke after social media influencer, Martins Otse, popularly known as Verydarkblackman, spoke. Otse, widely called VDM, said in his opening remarks, “Alright, in respect to Bobrisky, what I’m about to post now, a lot of name (sic) would be mentioned, these are people that I also respect and I believe a lot of Nigerians respect them as well. I am very, very disappointed in the agencies that are involved in this, and I believe that this call recording that I’m about to play, even Bobrisky will not expect it (chuckles). That is what is crazy.
“But all the people that would be mentioned, I don’t care, you understand, I don’t care, and from today, no longer respect for all of you, you understand, because all of una na di same, and it’s pretty obvious that in Nigeria, the law only work (sic) against the poor people, you understand. Now after this video, I would expect that the EFCC would do a deep investigation on everybody that is involved in this case, and also they would bring the whole officers that participated in this and collected and spent this money that is involved. Thank you very much.”
Narrating his prison ordeal in the phone call, the voice of Bobrisky which comes after VDM’s says, “You know, I’m a very big influencer, I have over five million followers on my Instagram. So, my Facebook, and they are paying me on my Facebook every month. So, I’m ok. So, they (EFCC) were like all those money cannot still make me buy house of N450 million house in Pinnock and where I’m staying in Chevron, blablabla…, they come with money laundering sha, they charge me to court. When they charged me to court, we had to beg them that ok, if they want to remove the money laundering, how much would they collect? They said we should go and bring N15 million, that they would remove the money laundering…”
To be continued
News
Oke-Oroma Elders Accuse Edo-GIS Officials of Reviving Obaseki’s Controversial Coral City Project

Elders of the Oke-Oroma community in Edo State, have raised concerns over alleged attempts by certain elements within the Edo State Geographic Information Service, Edo-GIS, to revive the outlawed Coral City template, a project initiated by former Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration.
They claimed that this clandestine move by these elements in EDOGIS is aimed at undermining and frustrating the progress made in affirming and redeeming Governor Monday Okpebholo’s earlier solemn promises to the people.
Recall that the Edo State Government in a press release dated October 8, 2025, warned land grabbers, encroachers and speculators to steer clear the land in Obagie community designed for Coral City by the immediate past government, after it was reportedly speculated that some people have encroached the said area.
In a press statement jointly signed by the Head of the Community, Gaius Emokpae and the Secretary, Monday Omorogiuwa and made available to the newsmen yesterday, the duo disclosed that Okpebholo has been working round the clock to address the issues surrounding the Oke-Oroma land disputed area, but faced with these elements who are hiding under government to escalate tension.
READ ALSO:Edo State Government Pays Last Respect To Late NSCDC Commandant
They revealed that in continuation of the former governor Obaseki’s manipulative tendencies, these elements have also reportedly established another new company named EDO NEW TOWNS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD to replace the CORAL CITY with the directors purely their political associates, Blood relatives and friends.
The gang up, according to Emokpae, is between Obaseki’s loyalists and these elements in EDOGIS who are attempting to silence governor Okpebholo’s decision on the issue.
The statement partly reads, “After Governor Monday Okpebholo was inaugurated on November 12, 2024, he visited the community and made a solemn promise to return our village to us after carrying out their investigations.
“When we visited him in the office he told us that the government had revoked the C of C of the people the former governor sold to, notably the “Coral City”. He told us to go back home and take over our land and start development.
READ ALSO:CSOs, Academia, Impacted Communities Launch Climate Justice Campaign In Edo
“The pronouncement was greeted with a thunderous ovation. We are now in the process of completing the legal documentation to conclude this milestone transaction
“But some powerful people in EDO-GIS are hiding under the umbrella of governance to re-invent the ex-governor Obaseki’s template specifically the Coral City to reverse the decision of Governor Monday Okpebholo.”
While lamenting their moves, the duo emphasized that despite the governor’s clear intention on revoking the Coral City to allow the owners go back to their lands, the bank account used for the operations of the Coral City is still functional where some financial transactions were recently carried out between some people invited to purchase some piece of plots and EDO-GIS Officials.
Despite existing as an ancestral home date back 15th century ago, Oke Oroma Community had been immersed in communal boundary disputes with neighbouring villages including Amagba, and Obazagbon villages in Oredo Local Government, and Obagie N” vbuosa in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area since June 2012, four months after the death of Pa Joseph Emokpae, the last Odionwere of the community.
READ ALSO:Police Alert Public On Anonymous Bomb Threats In Edo
Since then the crisis escalated, and not less than 25 people have been killed with property worth billions of Naira by the former governor Obaseki’s backed loyalists and suspected land grabbers across the neighboring communities.
They expressed worry that if allowed to continue, this could lead to renewed tensions and violence in the area.
The elders, in the statement, are urging individuals seeking personal benefits to desist and work with the governor whose magnanimity is well known from the beginning of his administration as he takes necessary steps to prevent any further escalation of the situation and ensure the continued peace and stability of the community.
Several calls put across to the Media Director of Edo-GIS by INFO DAILY for a response on the allegations, did not go through, as the network response: “The number you dial is switched off.”
News
Tenebe Threatens To Suspend Edo Commissioner Who Fails To Wear Asiwaju’s Cap

Chairman of the All progressives Congress in Edo State, Jarrett Tenebe, has said that any Commissioner sent out of the State Executive Council meeting for not wearing Tinubu’s signature cap would be suspended from the party.
Recall that Governor Monday Okpebholo had, during the Inauguration of the last batch of Commissioners, to wear the cap whenever they attend Exco meeting.
Tenebe in a television interview and monitored by our reporter said it was an act of indiscipline and insubordination for any Commissioner not to obey Okpebholo’s directive.
He said any impediment for Edo APC not to achieve 3.5 million votes for President Tinubu in 2027 would not be tolerated.
READ ALSO:Tenebe Fingers Edo APC Chieftains As Plot To Replace Him As Chair Thickens
He said, “If you refuse to wear the cap as the governor has directed, we will suspend you. That is indiscipline and insubordination.
“We are doing it because we have made a promise that 3.5 million votes are guaranteed. Everybody has keyed into realising the 3.5 million votes.
“If, as a member of the APC, you got an appointment, you are supposed to be loyal to the President.
“We are expressing our loyalty to the President by wearing the cap. Those complaining are not members of the APC. We, in Edo, have made it clear. No Asiwaju cap, no Exco.”
News
Police Alert Public On Anonymous Bomb Threats In Edo

The Edo State Police Command has alerted corporate organisations and members of the public to a wave of anonymous bomb threats being used by unidentified fraudsters to extort money.
The warning was contained in a public advisory issued on Monday by the Assistant Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem.
She said the command is investigating what it described as clear attempts to extort through fear and intimidation.
“The Edo State Police Command has observed a disturbing crime trend involving anonymous callers threatening individuals, business owners, and corporate organisations in Edo State, claiming that explosive devices have been planted within their premises.
READ ALSO:Edo State Government Pays Last Respect To Late NSCDC Commandant
“The callers then demand money, threatening to detonate the alleged explosives if their demands are not met. These acts are clear attempts at extortion through fear and intimidation, and the Command is actively investigating reported cases,” Ikoedem said.
In light of the development, the command urged members of the public to remain calm.
She added, “Do not panic or give in to any financial demands from such callers. The Command’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit is fully capable of detecting and neutralising explosives.
“Report all such calls or messages immediately to the nearest police station or to the Command’s Control Room via 08077773721 or 08037646272.
READ ALSO:Tenebe Fingers Edo APC Chieftains As Plot To Replace Him As Chair Thickens
“Avoid spreading unverified information or causing unnecessary panic.
“Stay vigilant and report any suspicious persons, objects, or movements in your surroundings.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, has ordered the deployment of specialised units, including the EOD team, Intelligence Bureau, and Tactical Squads, to respond swiftly to any reported threats and safeguard the public.
The Command also confirmed it is working closely with telecommunication providers and other security agencies to trace and apprehend the perpetrators.
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