The Nigerian government has formally opened an investigation into claims that Bobrisky, a crossdresser, was given preferential treatment while incarcerated for six months for stealing naira cash.
After media reports and public concerns claimed that Bobrisky was treated differently from other prisoners while he was being held at the Kirikiri Maximum Custodial Centre in Lagos, Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo reportedly ordered the investigation.
Monday marked the start of an independent investigative panel that the minister had established to look into claims of torture, cruel treatment, power abuse, and corruption in the Nigerian Correctional Service.
Bobrisky’s case will be examined, along with whether he completed his entire sentence and whether his alleged privileges violated prison rules.
Identifying human rights abuses, looking into more general problems in prisons, and suggesting changes to enhance convicts’ rehabilitation and reintegration are all part of the panel’s duty.
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Inmates at the Abeokuta correctional institution have already been ordered to relocate owing to unsanitary circumstances, and the panel’s chair, Magdalene Ajani, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior, has asked for reports on additional detention facilities.
The controversy began in September 2024 when a number of Kirikiri policemen were suspended in response to claims that Bobrisky received bribes from officials and remained in a private residence while incarcerated.
Bobrisky was sentenced shortly after entering a guilty plea to four charges of currency misuse after being apprehended in April 2024.
The panel has two weeks to provide its conclusions on the Bobrisky case.
