All Eyes On Nigeria’s Broken System: As EFCC Chairman, Interior Minister, Bobrisky, VeryDarkMan Head To NASS Over Alleged Bribery, Racketeering

By Amos Esele

This Monday, September 30, a drama of untold proportion will in all likelihood take place at the National Assembly, following the summons by the Joint Committee of the National Assembly to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede; Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky; and social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, aka VeryDarkMan (VDM), to appear before it.

This summon is coming on the heels of allegations of bribery against the anti-graft agency and the National Correctional Service, NCos, following a recorded conversation involving Bobrisky that was leaked on social media by the VeryDarkMan.

In that conversation, Bobrisky, who was convicted for abuse of the Naira, the national currency, disclosed that he allegedly paid N15 million to unnamed EFCC officials to drop charges of money laundering preferred against him and that he served his six-month sentence in a VIP facility, instead of the KiriKiri Medium Custodial Centre, Lagos.

The summon letter, dated September 27 also directed Olukoyede and Tunji-Ojo to come along with their officers implicated in the alleged bribery scandal.

Earlier on Friday in Abuja, the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo talked about the bribery allegation as part of the activities to mark his one year in office, a day after the ministry formally reacted swiftly to the development by suspending some senior officers through the Civil Defence Corps, Correctional Service, Fire and Immigration Services Board.

“We will not spare anybody, no matter how highly placed. Let us be patient. Investigation is on, but let’s be assured that nobody will be shielded and nobody will be protected,” the minister stressed, adding: “It is not just about Bobrisky. Of the four people we suspended, only two are linked to Bobrisky. The one in Afikpo took somebody out. This will continue. It is not going to stop here.”

The minister who reposed confidence in “the integrity of the people in the investigation committee,” he set up to unravel the veracity of the report that Bobrisky, who was sentenced to jail earlier this year, paid officials not to serve his jail term inside the correctional centre, partly confirmed the same report.

Accordingly, Assistant Controller, ASC II, Ogbule Samuel Obinna, serving at the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Afikpo in Ebonyi State, was suspended for allegedly accompanying a convicted inmate out of the custodial centre to a location outside the facility.

Another senior officer, Iloafonsi Kevin Ikechukwu, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), in-charge of Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Kuje, Abuja, was suspended for allegedly receiving money on behalf of an inmate.

Other suspended officers are connected with the medium and maximum security custodial centres in Kiri-Kiri, Lagos, where Bobrisky supposedly served his jail term. They are Michael Anugwa, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), in-charge of Medium Security Custodial Centre, MSCC, Kiri-kiri, Lagos State; and Sikiru Adekunle, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), in-charge of Maximum-Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Kiri-kiri, Lagos State.

“Be assured that all those involved will face the music,” Tunji-Ojo assured Nigerians and urged them to patiently wait for the conclusion of the investigation.

Like the Ministry, the EFCC, which reacted swiftly to the allegation by “constituting a team of Investigators to critically look into the allegations…”, while assuring, “the public that the allegations would be thoroughly investigated and the result of the findings made public accordingly,” stated that its investigation would be dictated by its core values of integrity, courage, professionalism and collaboration at all times.

When contacted, a dependable source at the Commission who asked not to be named told THEWILL that the EFCC Chairman was aware that some of the agency’s investigators have allegations of bribery hanging on their heads and he had on some occasions warned them to desist from taking bribes. “But this Bobrisky case will provide an opportunity for a thorough house cleaning. The allegation will be thoroughly investigated. Officers were assigned to handle the case, so it would be easy to fish them out. The Commission has promised to make its finding public. So, wait for the outcome of the investigation.”

THEWILL’s efforts to reach the Head of Media of the anti-graft agency, Dele Oyedele, for an update failed as he would neither answer his call nor respond to test messages delivered to his phone.

BOBRISKY, VDM AFTERTHOUGHTS

Although Bobrisky took to his Instagram page as soon as the story broke to deny the audio report that he paid EFCC the alleged N15m and demanded donations from friends and acquaintances for that purpose, the revelation by Nigerian rapper and songwriter, Folarin Falana, aka Falz, that the cross-dresser sought his assistance to pay for a VIP section of the prison added another dimension to the prevailing conversation.

VDM quickly apologised to Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, whose chambers threatened to sue him for defamation. The social media influencer had repeatedly echoed Falana’s name in surprise alongside his son, Falz, thereby defaming them in violation of section 23 of the Cybercrime Act, which criminalises intention to illegally take or make use of a name, business name, trademark, domain name or … and section 375 of the Criminal Code that frowns at publication of defamatory matter, quickly apologised, though in his own way.

In an apology that he posted on his Instagram and Tiktok pages, VDM stated that his intention was never to defame Femi Falana. He restated his respect for Falana, saying, “I never defamed and will never defame Femi Falana. I only reacted to the call Bobrisky made, which included allegations against Femi Falana. I choose not to believe Femi Falana would be associated with that. if so, I would be disappointed.”

Falana denied ever meeting Bobrisky, let alone demand the sum of N10 million, as stated in the recording, to secure presidential pardon for the cross-dresser.

However, Falz, and his sister, Folakemi, have insisted that they would sue VDM.

NIGERIANS, NBA REACT

Meanwhile, hundreds of Nigerians who are actively following the alleged scandal on social media have weighed in support of VDM for releasing the recording, which they consider an expose on the rot in the polity.

Afrobeat musician, Seun Kuti, who said he was the first person VDM contacted about the recording and he gave his approval to leak it publicly, vouched for Femi Falana’ integrity and transparency but slammed what he called the double standards that prevail in the country, using himself as an example when he was remanded in a cell in Panti Police Station, Yaba, on the orders of a Magistrate Court for allegedly assaulting a policeman.

In his reaction, a broadcaster with ARISE TV, Rufai Oseni, said, “VDM, we beg you in the name of justice, love and safety to release the second part of the recording so that we can know the godfather who called the Comptroller of Prisons and then get to the end of this disturbing matter.”

One Ima Press simply said, “Now, people will begin to know the power of social media. As it is still hard for the EFCC to touch Yahaya Bello, let us use Bobrisky’s case to shine.”

Easy Gogeterstore said, “Content creators can see from this matter that the country can be made better by focusing on relevant issues beneficial to everyone.”

Also reacting, Jasper said: “VDM is the godsent voice of the masses. VDM is the most valuable individual in this country. He is more adored than all our elected leaders put together…”

When THEWILL contacted the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, for his reaction, a lawyer who received the phone call, Ataba Agbo, said Osigwe had spoken on behalf of the organisation in a lengthy statement.

The statement stressed the need for a thorough and independent enquiry involving the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA.

In the statement, Osigwe urged the EFCC and the NCoS to carry out a swift and thorough investigation. If any public official is found guilty, appropriate actions must be taken to hold them accountable, he suggested.

He said, “The suggestion that convicts can freely serve their time in private residences and potentially procure a pardon by paying a bribe undermines the very foundation of our criminal justice system and erodes public confidence in the system.”

Osigwe charged the NCoS to not only respond to the allegation that Bobrisky did not serve his time in the correctional facility but also provide transparent details of the condition in which Bobrisky served his sentence, adding that if it is proven that he was allowed to serve his sentence outside a correctional service in breach of the law and a court order, the officers and officials responsible must be prosecuted and dismissed from the service.

He promised that the NBA would appoint eminent members of the legal profession to monitor the situation and ensure that due process is followed.

FAMILIAR STORY OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIAN PRISONS

To many Nigerians, stories of corruption in Nigerian prisons is not new. Scattered here and there, reports abound of cases of corruption involving the rich who can and have paid big money to buy comfort within the prison facility or in nearby houses.

Indeed, investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo in October, 2019 published an expose on police and prison corruption.

Soyombo who plotted his arrest and detention to expose corruption in the justice system in Nigeria spent five days in a police cell and seven days in Ikoyi Prison, in Lagos. After his release, he published a three- part serial of his investigation.

He noted: “Over the course of my seven days in prison, it was, quite simply, too easy for me to separate the corrupt warders, who were in the majority, from the clean ones … You can get a cell for N30,000, one of the warders tells me, you can also get for N100,000 or N150,000. You can even get a N1.5 million cell…

“A million and five hundred thousand naira?” I protested.

Another warder cuts in. “Don’t worry, you can never suffer in the prison yard,” he says. “As long as you have your money.”

In his reaction to this undercover story, the then Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Ja’afaru Ahmed, said the service had set up a panel to commence investigation into corruption in Ikoyi prison.

WAITING ON NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Honourable Patrick Umoh, representing Ikot Ekpene/ Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal Constituency on the platform of the APC, may have set the tone for Monday’s meeting with the House Joint Committee of the National Assembly when he raised the motion last Thursday on the urgent need to investigate “the disturbing allegation of corruption against the EFCC and the NCos.”

In a copy of his motion titled, ‘Urgent Need to Investigate the Disturbing Allegation of Corruption Against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the National Correctional Service to Save Nigeria from Ridicule,’ which was made available to THEWILL, Dr Umoh said, among other things, that the allegations against Nigerian critical law enforcement agencies of the EFCC and the NCoS was “disturbing… and the negative image and portrayal of Nigeria as a corrupt nation and Nigeria’s struggle to redeem itself from that perception, was worrisome.”

For a country that ranks 145 out of 180 countries and scored 25 out of 100 points in the recently launched 2023 Corruption Perception Index, published by Transparency International Nigeria on January 30, 2024, this development is indeed worrisome.

More worrisome however, before the Monday National Assembly meeting, is the mental health of the principal actor in the unfolding saga, Bobrisky.

He sounded suicidal at the weekend. “I have never in my life thought about suicide, but now it’s coming to my head. See what human beings are doing to their fellow humans just to bring them down. I don’t need sympathy from anyone. Who will fight for me? Haters, you win,” he said.

Source: THEWILL