The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has established an independent investigative panel on the alleged bribery involving crossdresser Idris Okuneye, better known as Bobrisky and the staff of the Nigerian correctional service (NCoS).

According to Tunji-Ojo, the panel was inaugurated on Monday to investigate the NCoS personnel.

This is in response to the audio leaked online by activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, where Bobrisky allegedly claimed that the intervention of his godfather prevented him from serving his six-month jail term in Kirikiri prison in Lagos.

The panel will be led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalena Ajani, to ensure transparency and accountability within the service.

“We want to really reform the correctional service. Your core responsibility is to investigate specific allegations of corruption, torture, and mistreatment of inmates by correctional officers, especially the immediate one on Bobrisky, which I expect to be out in two weeks.

“We will rely on your legal guidance to be sure that whatever we do is in line with the law of the land. We will rely on you to be able to come up with a way forward, as well as facts that would be made public to Nigerians. I want to say this very clearly, nobody will be shielded. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be shielded.”