Cleric says Bobrisky received protective custody to prevent harm

Kayode Williams, a bishop and director-general of the Prison Rehabilitation Mission, says certain inmates are shielded with protective custody in prisons to prevent harm.

Williams spoke on Friday in an interview with Arise TV while addressing the allegations made against Idris Okuneye, a popular crossdresser known as Bobrisky.

Bobrisky allegedly bribed some EFCC officials with N15 million to drop the money laundering charge against him, according to an audio clip shared by Martins Otse, better known as VeryDarkMan.

Although Bobrisky denied the allegations, the federal government suspended some officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) over the controversy.

Weighing in on the matter, Williams said Bobrisky’s gender complexities necessitated him serving his six-month jail sentence in protective custody.

Born male, the crossdresser has frequently warned the public to stop referring to him as a man. Bobrisky has also claimed to be Nigeria’s first transgender and once admitted to having severed her genitals.

But making a shocking turn during his trial on charges of naira abuse in court in April, Bobrisky said he was a man.

“Let me explain the categorisation of the prison setup. The prison now called the correctional service has buildings that accommodate convicted criminals, awaiting trials, including condemned criminals,” William said.

“When they enter the prison for the first time, they have to put them on proper recording, who is this inmate? where is he to be kept?

“This man we are discussing today, he is neither here nor there, as a man or a woman, to be recognised.”

The bishop said the confusion about classifying Bobrisky’s gender necessitated the need to have him kept safe in a “special place”.

“The first thing the (prison) record will do is to say ‘how do we treat this type of human that is neither woman nor a man?” the director general of Prison Rehabilitation Mission said.

“Are we going to say he’s a man or a woman? The accommodation that is provided for all males, are they going to bring Idris with her transgender body look to go and sleep in the general cell with general prisoners?