The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has inaugurated an independent investigative panel on the alleged bribery involving popular crossdresser Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky and the staff of correctional service.
Tunji-Ojo said the panel, inaugurated on Monday, was necessary to sanitise the personnel of the Nigeria Correctional Services, NCoS.
An audio leaked online last week contained the alleged voice of Bobrisky claiming that the involvement of his godfather stopped him from spending his six-month jail term in Kirikiri prison in Lagos.
The minister said the panel, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalena Ajani, would 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,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo added: “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.”