News

OPINION: Bobrisky And Our Other S/He Offsprings

Published

1 year ago

April 9, 2024

By Suyi Ayodele

Nigeria’s most celebrated social deviant, Idris Olanrewaju Okunneye, also known as Bobrisky, has been in the news in the last two weeks. Apart from the controversial contest the 33-year-old man from Ogun State, won recently, when he was adjudged as the “Best Dressed Female”, he had a date with the law last week. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had picked him up in his Lagos home and arraigned him on charges bordering on abuse of the Naira and others. EFCC, in its testimony before Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, accused the cross-dresser of “spraying” various sums of money ranging fromN400,000 to N50,000 at various social events within Lagos. The Commission’s witness, one ASE Bolaji Temitope Aje, told the court how the Commission “Based on the intelligence, the EFCC set up the Special Operations Team to observe and monitor activities of individuals, who are involved in the habit of mutilating the Naira.” The team, Aje added, came across videos of where Bobrisky was “spraying” money and was arrested. He added that the cross-dresser, when confronted with the videos, admitted that he was the one in them. Bobrisky did not deny the charges and was summarily convicted by the court and remanded in EFCC custody pending his sentencing today, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Unfortunately for him, today is a public holiday!

In pleading for leniency, Bobrisky asked the court to show him mercy and give him a second chance. “I am a social media influencer, with five million followers; and in all honesty, I was not aware of the law. I wish I can be given a second chance to use my platform to educate my followers against the abuse of the Naira. I will do a video on my page and educate people on that. I will not repeat the offence again. I regret my action.” He pleaded. Ever since his conviction, a lot of people have reacted to the Bobrisky-EFCC drama. Many believed that the cross-dresser is being punished more for his deviant behaviour than the crime of Naira abuse for which he was convicted. A prominent Nigerian, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, hit the EFCC hard by describing the Commission’s evidence against Bobrisky as “idleness or an abuse of power.” The EFCC fired back at Odinkalu and asked him to exercise “decorum and responsibility”, as it warned that: “The Commission would not hesitate to take appropriate legal actions against such uncouth commentaries against its lawful mandate by anyone. Odinkalu is warned and advised to ventilate his rascally opinions more responsibly in future situations.”

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Kaduna’s Debt And UnEl-Rufaic Silence

I find the EFCC outburst against Dr. Odinkalu as most unnecessary because I believe in his assertion that the EFCC’s evidence against Bobrisky is not just borne out of “idleness and abuse of power”, it is equally lazy and most discriminatory. I have no doubt about the provision of Section 21(1) of Central Bank Act, 2007, and the penalties spelt out therein. The question to ask the EFCC in this matter is: did Bobrisky commit the crime of naira abuse alone? In the various videos the Commission said it showed to the cross-dresser and to which he admitted, was he alone? Did Bobrisky, in “spraying” the naira notes not have an accomplice? Was he not “spraying” the notes on someone, the musician? Should the one who received the ‘abused naira’ be spared while only the one who ‘abused’ it is made to face the music? Leaving that aside, can we ask where the EFCC was when the Olu of Owode-Egba in Ogun State, Oba Kolawole Sowemimo, abused the same naira early this year. While Bobrisky in the EFCC videos was caught “spraying” the naira, Oba Sowemimo sewed the naira notes and was decorating a Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, who is also called KWAM 1, with the currency notes. Is the EFCC saying that it did not see the video, or are the two traditional rulers involved, KWAM 1 himself being the head of princes of Ijebuland, too big to be arrested and arraigned? So, what is the crime of Odinkalu in calling EFCC idle? If the Commission can close its eyes against a similar action by the two Ogun State traditional title holders, is it not an “abuse of power” if the Commission chose to go after Bobrisky alone? Isn’t that discriminatory and selective?

This takes us back to the argument that in arraigning and getting Bobrisky convicted, with a possibility of a jail term, the cross-dresser is being punished more for his deviant behaviour than the crime of abuse of the naira. For me, this argument is valid. I also hold that it is morally on the negative side. But funny enough, I don’t find it offensive. I think I love it; it is a welcome development! My argument. The Bobrisky menace is an epidemic that anything done to arrest it is good enough for me. The boy told the court that as “a social media influencer”, he had “five million followers.” That is a huge number if you ask me. How many of the number are children whose sexual orientations have changed as a result of Bobrisky’s influence? Our statutes do not recognise such deviant behaviour. This is why I feel very strongly that the government and the law enforcement agencies should come in and arrest this drift. Many parents are in pain today as a result of Bobrisky’s activities. And true to his appellation, his conducts are “risky’ to proper upbringing of our children. I have seen parents whose children are sexually deviant, agonising that they would have been more at home if those beautiful children of theirs are sexually promiscuous than going for the same sex partners! When a parent is on such an extreme edge, we ought to ask the laws to go after the Bobriskys of our era.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Restructure Nigeria Before We All Die

Incidentally, Bobrisky did not start this culturally ‘risky’ behaviour. Before him was Uzoma Odimira, alias Area Scatter, who reigned in the early 70s, shortly after the civil war. Area Scatter, who dominated the entertainment scene in the Imo area of the South-East, was noted for his braided hair, heavy makeup and high-heeled shoes. His argument then was that being a cross-dresser, he wanted “to create awareness and promote tolerance for gender diversity.” Before he finally disappeared, Odimira was seen as a ‘complete woman’ on the claims that the gods gave him supernatural powers. The Nigerian nation tolerated him and he had quite a huge number of ‘followers’. In the Bobrisky’s era, we have the likes of Jay Boogie, who was born Daniel Anthony Nsikan; Fola Francis; WF James Brown, whose baptismal name is James Chukwueze Obialor, Miss Sahhara who was raised in the north and Noni Salma; and many others. We are moving gradually to a point that parents would be watching the evening news in their sitting rooms and their children would come in with persons of the same sex to be introduced to them as their fiancés or fiancées. And before we say the religious cliché, “God forbid”, we need to first forbid it as Bobrisky’s father did in June 2020, when he forbade the deviant from attending his (father’s) birthday party dressed as a woman. Guess what: the boy complied!

I have heard arguments that Bobrisky and his gang of socially disoriented children have the right to be who they want to be. I asked one of the advocates of Bobrisky fundamental human rights if he would allow Bobrisky to enter the same female toilet with his wife because Bobrisky dresses like a woman and has female features. His answer was an emphatic no! This is where we should start from. Let our women; our wives raise the alarm anytime a Bobrisky wants to enter the female convenience with them at our airports and other public places. If Bobrisky attempts to answer the call of nature using the gents, let the men around resist him because they cannot afford a woman to look at their genitals while doing the big or the small. I am not against her fundamental human rights. But his rights should not infringe on other people’s rights to decency and secrecy of their genitals. The EFCC was in a dilemma while deciding the facility to detain this ‘risky’ element. The Commission could neither lock him up in a female or male cell; Bobrisky was locked up in a ‘lone cell’. Of course, the Commission doesn’t have a gender-neutral cell. If Bobrisky is locked up in a female cell because s/he is a woman, there are associated risks for the genuine female inmates of the cell. If s/he is locked up in a male cell, the EFCC will be violating his/her fundamental human rights. And if the Commission decides to keep him in the open, it will be standing in contempt of the court order. Whichever way, it is confusing just as the cross-dresser has a confused sexual personality.

The Black man’s sexual orientation is in two folds. A child is either a male or a female; boy or girl and man or woman. There is no issue of cross-gender or gender neutrality. And the Black race is a civilised race. Our current challenges are as a result of how we abandoned everything that makes us unique as a people and go after practices that are alien to our enviable values. When a woman gives birth in Yorubaland, we congratulate her for surviving the dangers of childbirth. Thereafter, the question we ask next is: Ako abi Abo (is it a male or a female child)? I believe this is so with other tribes in Nigeria. I cannot say I am old enough, but in the few years I have spent on Mother Earth, I am yet to come across where a child is born and the people rejoice because it is of mixed sex – half male, or half female. I don’t dispute that there are some medical conditions that can result in a child having two sexual organs. I was only taught the concept of hermaphroditism in my Biology classes in secondary school. We were told then that it is a medical abnormality. I have not seen one, though. And when such a rare case occurs, I take a bet that the parents would be dead worried. I am talking about real African parents and not the ‘civilised’ parents of the Western world. The Holy Books (Bible and Quran) approve only male and female sexes. Genesis 1:27 says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” The Quran recognises Adam and Hawwa. The Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) explicitly condemned imitating the appearance of the opposite gender. How those who brought ‘civilisation’ to us now recognise lesbians, gays, transgenders and bisexuals as normal beats my imagination. How they took polygamy from us and replaced it with homosexuality and bestiality remains a mystery! That is not our culture; and more importantly, that is not how God ordained it. Unless we frontally confront the menace of Bobriskyism, we stand the chance of having many H/She offsprings. God FORBID!

News

SUBEB Urges LG Chairmen To Sack Absentee Teachers In Bauchi

Published

5 hours ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

The Bauchi State Universal Basic Education (BASUBEB) has called on all the 20 Local Government Chairmen in the state to sack absentee teachers.

Alh. Adamu Mohammed, the Executive Chairman, BASUBEB, made the call on Friday during the official flag off ceremony of the 2025/2026 state wide enrolment campaign in Kirfi Local Government Area of the state.

Mohammed, who said that the move would serve as a deterrent and make others to be up and doing, added that the chairmen only need to inform SUBEB about the decision.

He also expressed the commitment of the Board to reward teachers who are diligent, committed, punctual and dedicated to service so as to encourage them.

The SUBEB boss who lamented the lack of enrolment of school aged children in schools across the state, said the development is detrimental to the future of the children.

According to him, the state government was doing everything possible to improve the quality of education at the Basic level, saying that members of the communities were not supportive of the efforts by not sending their children to school.

He also stressed that Girl child education is important to the development and growth of the society, calling on parents to send their girl children to School.

“I want to call on all the Local Government Chairmen in the state to take responsibility of supervising and monitoring schools in their respective areas because SUBEB can’t be everywhere at the same time.

“The Board will not rest in its oars until Basic education becomes the envy of others in line with what UNICEF and UBEC set as guidelines,” he said.

Also speaking, Dr Mohammed Lawal, the state’s Commissioner for Education, said the aim of the enrolment campaign is to mobilise traditional institutions to support enrolment drive in the state by sensitising parents and guardians on the need to send their children to school.

He added that the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) would also support whatever the traditional institutions are doing to achieve greater enrolment as well as continuity in education.

Earlier, Dr Nuzhat Rafique, the Chief of Field Office, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bauchi, recalled how the number of out-of-school children was reduced from 1.5 million to 500,000 through the effort of the governor with support from traditional, religious leaders, communities and parents.

“This is a huge progress but still, having 500,000 children out of school is one of the main goals for us to bring them also into schools.

“Education is the right of every child. No child should be out of school and that is my humble request that as the government is putting in policies, steps and strategies to bring these children back to school, everybody should key into it.”

While assuring UNICEF’s commitment and support to the development of basic education in the state, she called on all stakeholders to work together and ensure that every child is back to school.

News

UNILAG Honours Bayelsa Gov, Diri

Published

5 hours ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

The University of Lagos has completed a book project on the leadership qualities and governance style of Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri.

The Managing Director of the UNILAG Consult, Prof John Oyefara, who disclosed this on Thursday during a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa, said the institution has also proposed a public lecture as well as endowing a Professorial Chair in the Department of Political Science in his honour.

UNILAG Consult was established in 1983 and incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act in 2013. It serves as the consultancy arm of the institution, providing research-driven, cross-sectoral technical services via access to the university’s academic expertise and facilities.

Diri’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, in a statement on Friday, quoted Oyefara as saying that the university had a track record of assessing the performance of various leaders in Nigeria and that the book titled “Leadership Chronicles of Governor Douye Diri” focuses on his exemplary leadership and achievements.

He said, “At the University of Lagos, we have a tradition of assessing leaders in Nigeria. We use our own templates and standards that are global to measure the leadership in Nigeria.

“We identified Your Excellency to be a leading star in Nigeria, based on leadership and governance. We decided to put together all your achievements. The purpose of our visit was to inform you about our project in three thematic areas. One, is on the publication of the book we have been able to put together about His Excellency’s achievements in the state.

“We also propose a public lecture where renowned leaders in Africa will deliver a lecture on leadership and governance to exemplify the achievements of the governor. The third one is for the Department of Political Science in the University of Lagos to see the possibility of endowing a professorial chair in the name of His Excellency.”

The Lead Editor of the project, Prof Hope Eghagha, also stated that the idea was an independent assessment of the governor’s performance in office, either in infrastructure or human capacity development, through interviews that were conducted.

Responding, Diri said he was pleasantly surprised by the gesture of the institution. He welcomed the idea of documenting his achievements, saying he had been nursing the idea of establishing a leadership institute to groom those with an interest in politics and political offices.

The governor said, “It is really interesting when people, without your prompting, decide to do a thing for the purpose of posterity. A lot of the time, we do not document these events and activities, as we look at them as not too important. But they are.

“I have toyed with the idea that if I had the resources, could I establish a leadership institution in Bayelsa State so that before anyone thinks of becoming a councillor, council chairman, commissioner, special adviser or even governor, he knows what he is coming to do in office?

“If you are not prepared for it, then we are bound to fail as a country and as a state. So, I have been pleasantly surprised by the University of Lagos, and I think it is a good thing. Let me also state that the success in Bayelsa is not all about me. It is actually about our team. We have a dedicated team of commissioners, special advisers, technical advisers, and everybody contributing their quota to the whole.

“That is why if anyone says we have done well in infrastructure, it is because down the ladder, those who have been vested with that authority have implemented our policies, projects and programmes to the best of what we expected to be.”

Diri approved the proposals from the delegation and thanked them for recognising him in the midst of others.

Serving as Bayelsa State’s helmsman since his Supreme Court-affirmed inauguration in February 2020, Diri has become noted for his inclusive leadership and development-oriented governance.

Against this backdrop, UNILAG’s decision to document Diri’s leadership style and legacy through a dedicated book, alongside a public lecture series and a named professorial chair, marks a rare scholarly honour reflecting both institutional respect for governance excellence and encouragement of lasting academic inquiry.

News

Lagos Begins Comprehensive Assessment Of Public Primary Schools

Published

6 hours ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

The Lagos State Government has commenced its maiden NEEDS Assessment Project for all public primary schools across the state.

According to a statement on Friday by the Deputy Director, Information, LASUBEB, Abe Adunola, the initiative, spearheaded by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, was unveiled on Thursday during a stakeholders’ engagement session.

The NEEDS Assessment Project is an evidence-gathering exercise designed to identify gaps in infrastructure, teaching capacity, and learning resources in public schools. It provides government with data to plan targeted interventions and allocate resources more effectively.

According to the board, the project will cover 1,238 public primary schools, vocational centres, inclusive units, and Local Government Education Authorities.

Board member of LASUBEB, Owolabi Falana, said the exercise was a major step in strengthening the foundation of basic education in Lagos.

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Project Implementation and Monitoring, Mr. Olusegun Sanwo-Olu, noted that the initiative reflected the state government’s resolve to drive education reform with data-driven interventions.

“This project is about clarity and intentionality. By understanding the realities in our schools, we are laying a solid foundation for smart planning, equitable resource allocation, and sustainable reforms. It is a bold step that will ultimately improve the quality of teaching, enhance learning outcomes, and prepare Lagos children to thrive in this fast-changing world,” he said.

LASUBEB Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Shittu, described the initiative as the first in a series of continuous exercises aimed at transforming Lagos public schools.

“This maiden edition of the Needs Assessment Project is only the beginning. It will be sustained as a continuous initiative to ensure our schools, teachers, and learners are never left behind,” he affirmed.

Highlighting the project’s benefits, Shittu explained that the assessment would lead to safer classrooms, improved facilities, empowered teachers, and better learning outcomes for pupils.

“The future of Lagos depends on how much we invest in our children today. This initiative gives us the clarity and direction to act decisively,” he said.

He further stressed that the project was not only about identifying gaps but also about developing practical solutions that would create conducive learning environments, improve teachers’ working conditions, and strengthen administrative capacity across schools.

Shittu also commended the contributions of teachers, administrators, and Local Government Education Authorities, while emphasising collaboration with the Project Implementation and Monitoring Unit for credible data collection.

He urged teachers, parents, and community leaders to support the exercise.

“The success of this project depends on our collective effort. Together, we can build a school system that empowers our children with the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to compete globally,” he said.

The initiative comes against the backdrop of several education reforms introduced in Lagos in recent years. Through the EKOEXCEL programme launched in 2019, the state government deployed digital learning devices and retrained teachers to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes in public schools.

The state has also embarked on school rehabilitation projects, the construction of new classrooms, and the expansion of inclusive education centres to accommodate children with special needs.

Despite these efforts, public primary schools in Lagos have faced challenges of overcrowded classrooms, poor infrastructure, and uneven access to quality teaching.

Education experts have long called for systematic assessments to guide interventions, making the NEEDS project the first coordinated attempt to collect comprehensive data for policy decisions in the state’s basic education sector.