Tag: Bobrisky

  • No VIP apartment for Bobrisky in prison – NCoS

    No VIP apartment for Bobrisky in prison – NCoS

    The Lagos State Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service has said Idris Okuneye a.k.a. Bobrisky, is not being accommodated in a one-bedroom apparent of a VIP building at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.

    A news medium had reported that Bobrisky, who is serving a six-month prison sentence for abuse of the naira notes, was occupying a newly built VIP apartment in the Kirikiri correctional centre.

    A statement by the NCoS signed by its spokesperson, Rotimi Oladokun, said the correctional centre had no en-suite style cells.

    The statement said: “The attention of the Nigerian Correctional Service Lagos State Command has been drawn to some mischievous and misleading online publications.

    “Without prejudice to NCoS right to seek legal redress for the libelous publication, outlined are clarifications on the said issues.

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    “The convicted inmate, Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju a.k.a. Bobrisky is currently serving a six-month jail term for abuse and mutilation of the naira note within the custody of the custodial centre in the state.

    “The Convict is entitled to the reformative and rehabilitative platforms either educational and/or vocational training as provided to all inmates in custody.

    “Idris has been allocated a shared cell with other convicted inmates. There are no en-suite or ‘one-bedroom flat’ style cells in our Custodial Centre as the cell blocks infrastructure are built as shared buildings, to accommodate multiple inmates.”

    The statement added: “Idris is being treated just as every other inmate without any special amenities or privilege accorded.

    “All inmates are entitled to family and legal visits. These visits are monitored and regulated by NCoS.

    “The Controller of Corrections, Lagos Command enjoined the general public to disregard the said malicious publication.”

  • Bobrisky and tax reforms in Nigeria

    Bobrisky and tax reforms in Nigeria

    The charade of Nigeria is never-ending! Only recently, one of Nigeria’s best-known cross-dressers, Idris Okuneye, alias Bobrisky, was arrested on charges of abusing banknotes. He was later convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. Not long after, popular socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, aka Cubana Chief Priest, was also arrested for alleged naira abuse and he’s already being prosecuted. Nigerians wait to see how events unfold!

    In the considered opinion of this writer, jailing Bobrisky is, to say the least, amusing! It’s too pedestrian! As things stand, Nigeria’s revenue target reportedly stands at N18 trillion. Of course, that’s pathetic! Where things work, the target should be nothing less than N50 trillion. So, the country needs revenue, certainly not by Nollywood sideshows but by passing an Unexplained Source of Income Act.

     For God’s sake, why pick Bobrisky and what does the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ((EFCC) want from him? Well, if the arrest was to teach the self-styled cross-dresser some lessons of life, then, that’s a different story. Otherwise, it was a mere distraction and whoever mooted the ideas in the first place did not deserve our claps.

    If we are talking about the debasement of the naira and what ought not, what the EFCC needs is not whether people spray money or not. Yes, Bobrisky was spraying naira! But what happens next? In other climes, Bobrisky would never be banned for disdainfully soothing his ego. In countries like the United Kingdom and Sweden for example, if one goes to an ‘Owambe’ party and spices it up recklessly with pounds or euros, that’s one’s business! If one even likes, one can invite King Sunny Ade and ‘Professor Master General’ Kollington Ayinla to England to treat one’s audience to the melodious tunes of ‘Ijo Yoyo’. Nobody cares! But the consequence is that a tax bill awaits one immediately the party is over! In other words, what the government does is to invoke the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) 2017. By implication, the Nigerian government doesn’t need to pass a law restraining the people from ‘spraying’ naira notes. It only needs to ask some pertinent questions relating to the defaulter’s sources of wealth vis-à-vis his or her tax returns. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s government agencies are either too lazy or are not sincerely interested in generating revenue for the government.

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    If we are serious about fighting corruption in Nigeria, what we need is not some showboating. Nigeria doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel! So, instead of running round and round in circles, wasting so much time doing nothing, what’s needed is a surgical operation on the economy. The real issue is that Nigerians are not paying taxes and that’s why they are always ‘spraying’ money rashly. If we have the Unexplained Source of Income Act in Nigeria, which we ought to have had about 30 or 40 years ago, no Bob would have attempted to risk his waist on our naira notes because he perfectly understood the consequences. 

    This brings us to another sideshow a la Yahaya Bello! The fact that the immediate past governor of Kogi State is evading arrest from lawful authorities is symptomatic of a country without functional laws; and that’s unacceptable! It is because it has happened and nothing ever happened thereafter that it is now happening, because nothing will eventually happen! After all, once upon a time in Nigeria’s chequered history, one Nyesom Wike shielded one Rotimi Amaechi from lawful arrest and nothing happened! So, what’s the big deal? Could we have contemplated the former Governor of Wisconsin in the USA evading arrest? Even former President Donald Trump submitted himself to investigation and he’s currently having his day in court. So, who is Yahaya Bello and what’s special about the ‘ta-ta-ta-ta’ inventor? Shouldn’t Nigeria, at least, for once, be spared of pantomimes fooling around?

    Remember Alphonse Gabriel Capone, aka Scarface, the American gangster, businessman and boss of the ‘Chicago Outfit’! Remember also Eliot Ness, the brilliant, incorruptible American Prohibition agent and leader of ‘The Untouchables’! In his time, Capone killed a lot of people, including the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, but he didn’t leave any trace that could lead to his arrest for murder. He was also making millions of dollars without declaring tax returns. On Ness’s advice, Capone’s accountant was dragged into the case. On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted after trial and jailed for income tax evasion, not murder, on November 24, 1931.

    The heart of the matter is that these are tax issues! So, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) should have asked Bello the sources of his wealth vis-à-vis his tax returns. Pure and simple! In sane climes, the EFCC itself should be nothing more than a desk in the police force, just like the Fraud Office in England; and Nigeria would have been spared the rigour of the creation and duplication of the functions in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. As a matter of fact, the Fraud Office operatives are more technically competent than the EFCC can ever be!

    At a time like this, it’s better Nigeria faces the real issue; and the real issue is that super-rich Nigerians have not been paying taxes. Let’s face it, the day Nigeria gets serious, she will catch up with the developed nations within 15 years. For instance, the EFCC is accusing Bobrisky and Cubana of naira debasement, there are lots of wedding activities across the country, even as we speak. Has the EFCC prepared its operatives for the onerous task of even arresting prospective naira abusers? Has the Commission ever asked how some Nigerians get brand new, untouched notes while those who run legitimate accounts are starved of even the old ones? If one may also ask, how do our Point of Sale (PoS) system operators source the wares for their ventures?

     President Bola Tinubu is the head of the government. Again, this where he has to act before things get out of hand! If he truly wants to reform the country, this is the time to do so. But if he wants business to continue as usual, then good luck to him and good luck to Nigeria! So far, so good, a lot of his policies are right and are on the right path! Definitely, the criminal subsidy removal is painful; he should have thought about it better and come up with better ideas about how to mitigate its effects! The merging of the foreign exchange rates was also traumatizing. But it should be applauded! At least, the naira is now coming down and the speculators now know how far they can go! Going forward, let Tinubu go the whole hog! From the look of things, Nigeria is a one-party state, as most of the National Assembly members are from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which makes his job easier. Therefore, let the president lobby the National Assembly to enact the Unexplained Source of Income Bill, modeled on the UWOs which was introduced into the United Kingdom legislation under the 201 Criminal Finances Act. 

     Except we want to be economical with the truth, tax evasion is feasible when the system allows for it! All the more reason Tinubu should empower the FIRS by making it the pivotal figure in revenue generation. Those who earn more should pay more and the charade of over-taxing the poor to pay the rich should come to an end. With the passage of the Unexplained Source of Income Act, the government will generate more revenue, especially from those who are currently evading taxes. It is really annoying that Nigeria keeps taxing the poor while ‘blessing’ the rich with tax holidays.

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

  • Shun prostitution, Bobrisky lifestyle, Rector warns students

    Shun prostitution, Bobrisky lifestyle, Rector warns students

    The Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara state on Wednesday, April 24, urged students of the institution to shun prostitution and Bobrisky kind of lifestyle.

    The rector of the institution, Dr Kamoru Kadiri, said this in Offa during the 30th matriculation ceremony of the institution.

    He said that the school has zero tolerance against all vices.

    The school matriculated a total number of 9,925 students into various academic programmes for its 2023/2024 academic session.

    The matriculation ceremony marked the official entry of new 4,356 students into the Higher National Diploma (HND), 3,049 students into the National Diploma (ND) full-time and 2,520 students into part-time programmes for the 2023/2024 academic session.

    The rector congratulated the matriculating students on their admission into the institution, described as the fastest-growing polytechnic, advising the students to shun all acts of disobedience, truancy, absenteeism, indecent dressing and prostitution.

    Read Also: Bobrisky files notice of appeal, challenges conviction over Naira abuse

    He said: “Do not engage in cultism and hooliganism, cyber-bullying, negative social media usage, and all other forms of cybercrimes.”

     Kadiri charged the students with total adherence to the oath of allegiance and obedience to the rules and regulations of constituted authorities in the institution, saying that the oath conferred on them the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of genuine students of the institution.

    He also advised the students to always remain security conscious, saying that the situation in the country today requires everyone to be alert.

  • Bobrisky appeals sentence

    Bobrisky appeals sentence

    Convicted cross dresser Idris Okuneye a.k.a. Bobrisky has filed a notice of appeal against his conviction for Naira abuse by a Federal high Court in Lagos.

    Bobrisky was on April 12 sentenced to six months imprisonment over Naira abuse with no option of fine.

    In his appeal however, he urged the appellate court to set aside the sentence imposed on him.

    The appeal, filed by his lawyer, Bimbo Kusanu, argued that the ‘trial judge erred in law and in facts by his imposition of the maximum sentence of six months imprisonment against the appellant without option of fine, contrary to Section 416(2) d of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 (ADCJA) that prescribes the mandatory guidelines on the trial court on imposition of sentencing after criminal conviction of a first time offender as the appellant’.

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    The appeal therefore ‘is seeking an order setting aside the six months maximum imprisonment sentence imposed on the appellant and, in its place, an imposition of fine in the sum of N50,000 on each of the counts against the appellant’.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on April 4, filed six counts of money laundering and abuse of Naira against Bobrisky.

    He was arraigned on April 5.

    The court, however, dismissed the money laundering charges but convicted him after he pleaded guilty to four counts charge of abuse of the Naira.

  • Bobrisky files notice of appeal, challenges conviction over Naira abuse

    Bobrisky files notice of appeal, challenges conviction over Naira abuse

    Controversial cross-dresser and socialite, Idris Olanrewaju Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has filed a notice of appeal challenging his conviction on a four-count charge of Naira abuse.

    The Nation reports Okuneye was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on four counts bordering on naira abuse.

    He pleaded guilty before Justice A.O. Awogboro of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

    Justice Awogboro, on 12 April, sentenced Okuneye to six months imprisonment without an option of fine.

    On Monday, in his notice of appeal, Counsel to Okuneye, Bimbo Kusanu, filed a notice of appeal, praying the Court of Appeal to set aside the maximum sentence.

    Kusanu is asking the court to replace the sentence with an option of a N50,000 fine on each of the counts.

    The counsel stated in the notice of appeal that the trial court imposed the maximum sentence on the appellant, who had no previous criminal record of conviction.

    He stated that there were options to impose a lesser sentence by the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).

    He averred that the sentence imposed by the trial court against the appellant was punitive and contrary to the mandatory provisions of the ACJA.

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    The appellant stated that the trial court did not consider the positive antecedent of the appellant, who did not waste the time of the court by pleading guilty to the charge.

    He stated that the appellant honoured the invitation of the respondent on the first invitation.

    He said that the trial court failed to exercise its discretion judiciously and judicially in sentencing the appellant.

    He explained that such an act had occasioned a miscarriage of justice against the appellant.

    “The sentence of the Lower Court that imposed maximum penalty of six-months imprisonment without option of fine on the Appellant who is a first time convict without previous record of criminal conviction.

    “The Learned trial Judge erred in Law and in facts by his imposition of the maximum sentence of 6 Months imprisonment terms against the Appellant without option of fine contrary to the provisions of Section 416(2) d of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 (“ACJA”) that prescribed the mandatory guidelines on the trial Court on imposition of sentencing after criminal conviction of a first time offender as the Appellant.

    “The trial Court imposed the maximum sentence on the Appellant who has no previous record criminal of conviction when there are options to impose a lesser sentence by the provisions of the ACJA.

    “The Sentence imposed by the trial Court against the Appellant is punitive contrary to the mandatory provisions of the Law (ACJA) on sentencing.

    “The Appellant has suffered miscarriage of Justice by the maximum sentence imposed by the learned trial Court.

    “The reasons adduced by the learned trial Court for the imposition of maximum punishment on the Appellant which is essentially on what foreigners think of abuse of Naira,is perverse and is out of tune with the reality of what the trial Court should have been considered to impose maximum punishment on the Appellant.

    “The intendment of the provisions of the Central Bank Act 2007 that the Appellant was charged with is for Nigerians not to tamper with Naira and not what nationals of foreign countries view about tampering with Naira.

    “The trial Court did not consider the positive antecedent of the Appellant who did not waste the precious Judicial resources of the trial Court when he pleaded guilty to the Charge. The Appellant honoured the invitation of the Respondent-Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the first invitation during the investigation leading to the charge”.

    “The trial Court failed to exercise his discretion judiciously and judicially in sentencing the Appellant. which has occasioned miscarriage of justice against the Appellant.”

  • Bobrisky reportedly donates chairs to prison

    Bobrisky reportedly donates chairs to prison

    After barely 12 days in prison, chairs labelled with the name Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky have reportedly been donated to the Nigerian Correctional facility by the controversial crossdresser.

    In a video on social media, various chair stands were seen at the correctional service centre, with inscription: “To Nigeria Correctional Service courtesy Idris Okuneye BobRisky.”

    Read Also: April 18, Bobrisky, Junior Pope, peace and happiness

    A caption on the video reads: “On behalf of BobRisky, for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Kirikiri, for the visiting area.”

    According to the report making the rounds about Bob’s donation, the chairs are meant for the prison’s visiting area.

    Bobrisky was on Friday, April 12 sentenced to six months imprisonment over naira abuse.

  • April 18, Bobrisky, Junior Pope, peace and happiness

    April 18, Bobrisky, Junior Pope, peace and happiness

    I remember almost as though it were  only yesterday this  day 31 years ago. It was the first time I would be in Auchi, the land of the Otaru. I arrived the day before on a bill to give a public talk at Auchi poly technic on the subject: The Key to Peace And  Happiness. My hosts were Mr and Mrs Osiki, both engineers, and lecturers at the polytecnic.

    Being human, one part of me kept remembering home in Lagos, because my wife and I were expecting a baby next day. And, as sure as day, he came. If you wonder why  I was far away from home when I had fore knowledge of such an important event, I would say April 18 is one of the most important dates in the Gregorian calendar for humanity on earth and elsewhere in the universe, and that I made the necessary arrangements back home for the coming of this baby.

    Very April 18 reminds me of the purpose of human existence on earth and rekindles me to not pursue tinsel in the place of gold, chaff instead  of wheat, perdition for life. All of us are helped in different ways for better and clearer understanding of the purpose of existence, particularly on earth, but we are too sloppy to catch the lifelines. How many persons remember their dreams, or understand  them? I was lucky to  have an Out of Body Experience ( OBE) at 24. Psychic researchers now call  it OBE or Extra Sensory Perception (ESP), if it is only being able to sense or to know what the average person cannot.

    Please permit that, before I proceed, I recall a psychic case from the book Conversations With God, which was a  gift from an acquaintance, Mr Jocob Akindele, who is also restless in ever deepening his recognitions about existence, peace and happiness and how to achieve them.  One of the highlights of this book is a school  boy named John, if my memory serves me right.  He is reserved, hardly mixes. His  class teacher noticed him but most probably always shrugged her shoulders until one day during  lunch  break. She  asked  him why he was sitting in the class and not out-door for recreation. His reply was court and shocking:

    “ John has an Accident”

    The teacher has a son  named John, but it did  not cross her mind that this John was talking about her son. Soon,the class re-assembled  from break . Soon, the headmaster accompanies some strange persons into  the class-room. They  conversed with the teacher who gathered  her books and hand bag and left with them  after managing to bid her pupils bye.

     When she returned a few days after, and was  alone in the class again with this boy during another lunch break,she humbly asked…

    “How did you know John had an accident?”

    I  do not remember the rest of the story. I remember my first OBE, though. From  deep sleep, I found I was not the  person deep asleep  in bed…that deep asleep in bed was my body.  I was the one awake and walking about in the room. I was not hallucinating.

    It was a real, day conscious experience which has  occurred more times and helped me to understand that life goes beyond being born, going to school, graduating from the university, getting a job, chasing and making money, getting married, raising a family, becoming a grandparent someday, dying someday and becoming lost in the memory of succeeding generations of humans.

     As a litmus test, ask your children if you  are over 70….who were Adeola Odutola, Obafemi Awolowo, Rufus Giwa, Ernest Shonekan, Tafawa Balewa, Michael Okpara, Denrus osadebey, Joseph Tarka, Isac Boro,Malam Aminu Kano, Ahmadu Bello, Margaret Ekpo, Olu Onagoruwa, Dick Ihetiu (Dick Tiger), Hogan Bassey and Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. Many Nigerians have faint memories of them today. Many do not know them. Yet they made  waves in their time. Was their existence circumstantial?Where may they be now, if there was a purpose for their existence? What is this purpose? What is the key for unravelling or defining it ? I discovered from  my OBE that we all exist in a world governed by natural laws which brought it about, and that peace and happiness are guaranteed only in the recognition of these laws and unconditional observance of them.  It is in this light that I seek to address some of the major events of last week in Nigeria highlighted in the headline. Bobrisky and Junior Pope.

    Bobrisky

    Society has wise ways of bursting the balloon of its deviants who  beat their drums too hard and too loud for the comfort and safety of everyone. That was what  happened to a man, 33, born and named Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju  but who has chosen to call  himself  Bobrisky and is applauded  by the public as “Mummy of Lagos”. Recently,  kindred souls decorated him as Nigeria’s “ best dressed woman”. It wouldn’t  have been any one’s business if he merely changed his name to  Bobrisky. That is his own business. I was born Olufemi Babatunde Kusa. Olufemi was my baptismal  name at birth. I  took on John at 17 or 18 when Rev. Earl M. Fyne baptised me as an adult in the pool of water right behind the altar of the chapel of Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo. The Epistles of St. John fascinated me. I believed Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju adopted Bobrisky for stage craft. In the stage craft which brought him fame and money and trouble,  he dresses and behave  like a woman. His father was upset. Who is that parent who lives a straight , natural life who would have no headaches and sleepless nights over such  a son who was popularising trans gender life, and, thereby, encouraging  lesbianism, gayism and heterosexual life especially among young persons who are being dragged by the internet to the abyss or bottomless pit?  In reality, trans gender life  deforms  the original identity of the human soul, but not of the human spirit the kernel of the soul. I cannot be a judge in respect of Bobrisky’s inner life. I described here only that which I have recognised from my search for The Truth following my OBEs. I have recognised that we who call ourselves human beings  today were once  unconscious spirit seed germs with potential to grow and mature into conscious spiritual beings. We can glimpse this when we  plant a seemingly lifeless  mango seed, vegetable seed or ear of corn in the right soil. As spiritual seed germs, we were planted in the soil of the material world, far, far below the spiritual world, Paradise,our home.

    At  a point in the course of becoming more conscious than  when we left home, we were opportuned to  decide in which of the two activities in creation we wish to permanently dedicate our existence. We had to choose between active  or passive existence. The Active or Positve is rough or rocket,  obtuse and material laden. The Passive  or Negative is not derogatory,  but a fine and deliassivecate  countelever Activity to active or rough activity. It means the finer existence which inclines  homeward,from where it constantly draws values and power in support of the downward striving positive activity. To the male gender on earth belongs this activity and to the female gender belongs the gentler finer delicate activity. Once the preferred activity is chosen, it cannot be changed  in the entire existence of the human spirit. In the entire universe, only these two activities exist. Any attempt to change it causes a distortion of the soul of the person concerned, and   sometimes affect the physical body.

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    Delineation of both activities manifests, also, in the  outward forms of the female and male human bodies.The female bodies is  finer because the force within it is finer and more powerful than the force within the male body which, to support its course and obtuse work on earth, is endowed with strength. Thus, it is wrong to call the female gender the weaker sex. It is the more powerful gender. There is a difference between Power and Strength. Psychically, woman can bear  more stress and inner pain than  man. However, man has the strength of  bigger muscles. When a man is effeminate and cannot  stand up to his calling and duties as a man, he may begin  to alter the configuration of his soul. This may begin to affect his body. If he returns to the earth after his dismise, h-incarnate, in a female body,if he has not corrected his spiritual aberrations. Thus,we may find a man  in a woman’s body. The same may happen to a woman who returns to the earth in a man’s body.

    Today, there are many men in women’s bodies and there are many women in men’s bodies.These thoughts are not original to me. They come as revealed knowledge to mankind at this time in events connected with events of  18 April 1875, that is 149 years ago.  Distorted souls are useless souls in Creation. There  are only two activities..Male represented by the  perpendicular line in an equal-armed Cross, and Female ( Passive or Negative) represented by the Horizontal blind in the same Cross. Old civilisations knew about this Cross. It is sometimes used in decorative manner, though with a serious message, on the robes of some priestly Caste. It was the Cross of which the Lord Jesus spoke when He asked His followers to pick their Cross and fellow Him. He couldn’t have been speaking of the Crucifix which had  not featured in His earthly Mission. Distorted souls are trans genders. They are attracted to one another in friendship and marriage. Globally, Nigeria  inclusive, more women are inclining towards active activities, are unwittingly shifting the balance in the equal armed cross. This is  why the nations are becoming more unbalanced and the world is upside down right from the family level.

    I said earlier I could not be a judge over Bobrisky’s life. I can only see his conduct against the background of the conception of the Distorted  Soul, of which I am privileged to have an idea. The judge who sent him to jail for six months is a Wise man. He asked  Bobrisky  if  he was male or female. Bobrisky replied that he was male. Had  he said he was female,the Judge may have asked doctors to scan “her” genitalia. If the scans found no female breasts,ovaries, follopian tubes, uterus, cervix or vagina but the male genetalia of penis, scrotal sac and testes,  Bobisky may have gone down for lying on oath and obtaining money from the public at his public and other shows under false pretenses.  In the  end, Bobrisky pleaded  guilty to  disrespecting  Nigerian currency. He “sprayed” money  at a function and stepped on currency, according to video evidence. A wise society has  thus  found one of several wise ways to  put away for some time  one of its  deviant numbers who had been beating his drum too  hard and  too loud to  the discomfort  of many people and a generation of young, gullible persons he was encouragin to distort  their souls and accompany him to the abyss or bottomless pit.

    Junior Pope

    I am not moved by surface talk, and do not enjoy the company of  lococious  and garulous persons. I once wrote so in   respect of former  American  President Donald Trump when he stampeded  Americans living in Nigeria to flee home, saying COVID-19 would kill Nigerians” like flies”. In the end, Nigerian  COVID-19 deaths were  far smaller than malaria,  tuberculosis, maternal deaths while COVID-19  killed  Americans and  Europeans “like flies”. Thanks for  the infinite goodness of God for our sun and herbs, more natural “lifestyles and other divine  mercy.  I  do not  watch films  and listen  to comedians.  There is hardly anything elevating or uplifting in their contents. They either drag society down, grope along with it by mirroring ignorable ways and means, hardly upbuilding  guardians and leaders. They parade only base content to cause unguarded laughter and make fabulous money. Many of them   even try to drag conception of the  the unsubstantiated Almighty Creator far  below dense human nature. Only birds of a nature swing along with them.

    So, you should please forgive  me if I say  I  did not  know the actors reported to have died  recently and even  Pope Odonwodo a.k.a. Junior Pope  who  drowned last  week in the River Niger along with 11 other members of  a group working on a  film ironically titled: The Other Side of Life. He was  unlucky to not be among the nine survivors. You have to be something other human to be not touched by the manner of his death and of his struggles to survive the drowning. What first touched me was the spiritual admonitions or warning connected  with a mission to the  earth  of which 18  April 1875 is a signpost. The warning is that  Carelessness Will Avenge Itself Bitterly. Junior Pope and two of his other colleagues did not wear  life jackets in a boat cruise on a river  known for boat  capsizes! He  was even making  boastful video posts to  sell the  upcoming film with  statements such as that they were making risky sacrifices to entertain their fellowers. We learnt  through Junior Pope  that our  words  form our world. A risk, indeed,their trip was. the episode tried  to give herbalism a bad name, but, is, nevertheless, filled with spiritual content. The accounts are  varied and confusing. I followed the story line that he was brought out of the river dead and taken straight to a mortuary where the staff observed his finger(s) twitching. This is a familiar story line in Raymond Moody’s  Life After, which reported how hundred of “corpses”  in mortuaries walk out on their own or were revived on exhibiting signs of life and lived on to share their experiences about the other Side of Life, that is in the so- called Beyond. Junior Pope was thinking and talking about his three sons just before the boat capsized.  This bonding may have bonded him to his body in an Out-of- Body Experience (OBE), and he may have been  trying to communicate that he was  still  alive.

    His messages picked, goes the story line, he was taken to the herbalist for rituals. The case was a medical emergency which should have taken priority over a native doctor’s rituals.  I do not, by this, undervalues the power of incantation  and all of that to bring back into the body the soul of a departing person,  in so far as the silver cord which bounds them has not been severed and brain waves ceased altogether. There were reports  that Junior Pope was still breathing. Only a medical doctor can confirm dead upon confirming that the brain has stopped to emit waeves.  This is when the soul is irrevocably  separated from the body or the cord no longer conduct vibrations between them, and the body  consequently becomes lifeless, cool and dead.

    Everyone has been talking about mermaids and water spirits and wondering if they exist and are responsible for accidents in rivers and streams. Yes, they exist. They are species of Nature  beings or elemental beings whose activities have to do with water. They are our friends. At the command of the  Almighty Creator, these beings  are prepared for us this great universe which is to be our home in  our growing-up millennia  in the  material sphere of the world from which, before the dissolution of various parts, we are meant to have become spiritually mature and ascend homeward to paradise. The elemental beings give us rain to calm  sun heat, give us streams, rivers, seas, and oceans to drain the land  of rain floods and provide us marine foods and water for several uses.

    In their work, they do not harm us if we learn about them and fellow their guidance because they obey in all strictness only the Will of God. If there are problems with rivers, these may have to do with the thought forms of phantoms and demons which human beings have imbued into them. In some parts of Akwa Ibom State where many persons still actively worship marine life forms, there are some rivers aliens to the land must not step into. There are some which twins and twins mothers must not get near. Only the native doctor can  say what he was up to. At about this time in Lagos, no fewer than seven  persons died in water,five in swimming pools and two in the third mainland Bridge when their over sped passenger bus broke through-rail barriers and the impact flung two passengers into the lagoon below.

    May we all benefit immensely from the events of April  18,1875 which gave  mankind the  key to peace and happiness, and help of inesteemable value for their ascendance  from this dense part of the world to the luminous gardens of Paradise….Amen.  

  • Bobrisky: Principles governing sentencing of an accused person

    Bobrisky: Principles governing sentencing of an accused person

    By Moshood Olajide

    Since Okuneye Idris, also known as Bobrisky, was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Federal High Court in Lagos following a prosecution spearheaded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on charges of naira mutilation, several diversionary opinions have flooded the Internet space.

    The cross-dresser was convicted after pleading guilty to the charges of naira mutilation – this is in line with the principle of law. In Dangote v. Civil Service Commission Plateau State & Ors, (2001), the court held that after a plea of guilt by an accused person before the court, the court must formally proceed to conviction without calling upon the prosecution to prove the commission of the offence. This is because the admission of guilt on the part of the accused has fully satisfied the burden of proof.

    Some schools of thought are, however, of the view that the sentencing to six months imprisonment is too excessive, while some are of the view that the accused ought to be fined only. Some, on the other, hand opined that since the accused opted for plea bargain, he ought to have been exonerated, being a first time offender. All these are mere beer parlor assertions which have no grounds in law.

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    As a starting point, Section 21 (1) of the CBN Act 2007 is an elaborate provision which makes mutilation of the naira punishable. For clarity, it is important to reproduce the Section here in verbatim: “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 6 months or to a fine not less than N50,000, or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

    The question now is: in view of the above provision and considering the plea bargain between the prosecutor and the accused’s legal practitioner, together with the option of fine in the CBN Act, was the sentencing excessive in line with what is being blabbed around? The answer to this question lies in the examination of relevant statutory provisions.

     A close interrogation of Section 270 – 275 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and Article 15 of the National Policy on Prosecution 2016, which regulates the application of plea bargain in Nigeria, shows that both provisions did not anticipate exoneration of crime or lesser sentencing if there is any agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant in respect of plea bargain. This nullifies the opinions that plea bargain ought to have reduce the sentencing. The application of plea bargaining must not defeat the attainment of substantial justice. Justice must flow in a three-way street in criminal matters. It must lead to justice to the defendant (Bobrisky), the victim (the naira currency), and the society (the public at large). The Court of Appeal per Olujimi JCA puts the position of plea bargain succinctly in Gava Corporation Limited v. FRN (2014) as follows: “An accused person who alleges that he had a plea bargain with the prosecutor cannot emerge unscarred or without blemish or stigmatization of conviction.”

    A trial judge also has the discretion in sentencing. A court does not make pronouncement or sentence accused persons based on what is popular or what the public will think. In Ezerike v. State (2022), the Supreme Court pontificated that a trial judge has the discretion in matters of sentencing and can impose maximum sentence where applicable, and such discretion must be exercised judiciously. As a follow-up,  Section 311(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, sets out four factors that the court should invariably consider in performing its sentencing function. The section reads as follows:

    The Court shall, in pronouncing sentence, consider the following factors in addition to sections 239 and 240 of this Act.

      (a) the objectives of sentencing, including the principles of reformation and deterrence;

    (b) the interest of the victim, the convict and the community;

    (c) appropriateness of non-custodial sentence or treatment in lieu of imprisonment;

    (d) previous conviction of the convict.

    It is therefore clear that the trial court considered two sets of facts in giving the cross-dresser a severe sentence. It considered the facts that made it feel duty bound to impose a sentence that could serve as a correction to the convict and deterrence to other persons, since issues of naira mutilation has been a serious offence gaining notoriety in the society with little or no charges or arrest made to warrant conviction previously. It then considered the public interest in protecting the naira and curtail further abuse.

    In view of the above provisions and analysis, the learned trial judge appears to have been influenced strictly by balancing the principle of deterrence and public interest together, without having regard to paragraph d of Section 311 (2) of ACJA considering the accused is a first time offender.

    However, if the accused is aggrieved,  it is left for him through his counsel to appeal the conviction. In Adeyeye v. The State (1968), Ademola, CJN (of blessed memory) held that: “It is only when a sentence appears to err in principle that an appellate court will alter it. If a sentence is excessive or inadequate to such an extent as to satisfy this court that when it was passed there was failure to apply the right principles, then this court will intervene.”

    It follows that the proper forum to address sentencing is at the court of appeal, and not ventilating opprobrium remarks on social media and putting the judiciary through unconstructive views. It is also re-emphasised here that a plea bargain does not translate to exoneration of offence. If that has always been the case, the society would not be safe and everyone would be tempted to commit a crime. In fact, plea bargain may not influence the imposition of minimum sentence, or imposition of just N50,000 fine as punishment for mutilating the naira as stipulated in Section 21 (1) of the CBN Act 2007 as some people expected. The type of sentence to impose is strictly at the discretion of the judge, based on the submissions of the prosecutor and that of counsel to the defendant, the peculiar facts of the case, public policy and public interest in conjunction with sound principles of law.  

    • Olajide of the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, writes from modunayoolajide@gmail.com

  • Bobrisky: Portable seeks EFCC’s forgiveness for spraying money on fans

    Bobrisky: Portable seeks EFCC’s forgiveness for spraying money on fans

    Controversial artist, Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to forgive him for spraying money on his fans.

    Portable’s plea is coming after the six-month jail sentence handed down to crossdresser Okuneye Idris, also known as Bobrisky, for Naira Mutilation offence.

    Recall that Portable once declared he gave his followers almost N2 million daily in spray paint.

    The street artist asserted in a recent live chat that his actions bring kindness to people.

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    The head of the Zeh Nation label, appearing fearful of the consequences following footage showing him splattering cash, pleaded for forgiveness from the government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Portable announced that he would never  engage in spraying money as he encouraged his supporters to open bank accounts, adding that he would only make transfers.

    “I didn’t deface the Naira, I help a lot of people, after God na government, please forgive me if you have videos of me spraying money, no more spraying of money”, he said. 

  • Bobrisky: Alesh Sanni slams celebrities for abandoning embattled crossdresser

    Bobrisky: Alesh Sanni slams celebrities for abandoning embattled crossdresser

    Actor Sanni Alesh has criticised his colleagues for allegedly deserting popular crossdresser, Bobrisky, during his challenging time.

    Alesh said pointed out how celebrities had readily engaged with Bobrisky for various events and promotions but distanced themselves when the controversial figure encountered legal troubles.

    He expressed that the prison is not where someone should stay for even a day, emphasising the gravity of the situation and the need for empathy.

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    On his instagram story, Alesh questioned the sudden silence and absence of support of his co-stars towards Bobrisky.

    “Prison is not where someone should stay for even a day. I don’t know why humans are hypocritical, so we call Bobrisky for parties, to promote movies, songs, grace our events, and even boost our businesses with his platform because of the lifestyle he has chosen and all, which we didn’t see as a problem or a big deal.

    “Now for whatever reason he’s been arrested and jailed yet we all pretend as if he has never been a part of our lives, Why are people this evil?, especially celebrities…remember this can happen to anyone”, he wrote.