‘I Wasn’t Aware,’ Bobrisky Begs Court For Forgiveness

Lagos socialite and transwoman Idris Okuneye, alias Bobrisky, pleaded guilty to a four-count charge of naira misuse and money laundering brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a Lagos court on Friday.

She was originally charged with six counts, but two of them were withdrawn after a negotiation between the parties. After the defendant pleaded guilty, the court convicted him.

However, the court delayed her sentence until April 9 and ordered her to be kept in the EFCC’s custody until then. When the case was called, the prosecutor, Suleiman Suleiman, informed the court that after a discussion, the defendant consented to plead guilty to the allegations.

As a result, she filed a motion to strike out charges five and six, leaving counts one through four. As a result, counts five and six were dismissed.

Ayo Olumofin appeared in defence. When the remaining counts were read to the defendant, she pleaded guilty to them. Following her plea, the prosecutor asked the investigating police officer to provide a brief assessment of the case as a prosecution witness.

The witness, Bolaji Temitope, an assistant superintendent of the EFCC, stated that during the investigation, the team discovered a video showing the defendant mutilating naira notes. He said that the videos were obtained and duplicated onto a Compact Disc (CD), while a letter of invitation was issued to the defendant.

According to him, the defendant accepted the invitation, and when she came at the EFCC office, she was cautioned and asked to provide a statement.

The witness informed the court that the defendant was then shown a video of her spraying money on an artiste named Segun Johnson, and that the defendant confessed and claimed that he was the guy in the video.

The defendant admits to spraying ₦400,000 at a movie presentation at Circle Mall Lekki, as depicted in a video. He told the court that the defendant was shown two recordings of her spraying money at Ajah and Ikorodu junctions in Lagos, and she still acknowledged doing it.

At this point, the prosecutor showed the witness the CD with the recordings, the defendant’s statement, and a certificate of identification. The witness corroborated this to the court, and the defence raised no objections.

As a result, the court admitted the documents and designated them as exhibits A, B1, and B2. The prosecutor then requested the court to convict the defendant as charged based on the evidence produced by the EFCC.

As a result, the court found the defendant guilty of the charges and convicted her. In her plea for compassion, Bobrisky stated that she is a social media influencer with five million followers.

She stated, “In all honesty, I was unaware of the law; my Lord, I wish I could be given another chance to use my platform to educate my followers about spraying the naira.” I plan to post a video on my page to educate individuals who are unfamiliar with naira spraying, like as myself. “I regret what I did,” she stated.

Defense attorneys asked for a non-custodial sentence for the defendant. The judge postponed judgment until April 9 and ordered that she be held in EFCC prison pending the outcome.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Bobrisky was arrested on Thursday by the anti-graft agency in connection with the offense.

The accusation stated that she committed the offense on March 24 at Circle Mall in Jakande, Lekki, Lagos. The agency claimed she tampered with a total of ₦400,000 while dancing at a social function by spraying it.

Between 2022 and 2023, she reportedly sprayed ₦20,000 and ₦50,000 at occasions.

Meanwhile, in the struck-out counts, the EFCC stated that the defendant, who traded under the name and style Bob Express between September 1, 2021 and April 4, failed to submit a declaration of his company’s operations to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering.

The EFCC reported a payment of ₦128 million to the company’s account during the specified time period. The defendant failed to submit a declaration to his company’s unit within the same period, despite having paid ₦53 million.

The offenses violate Sections 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007 and 19 of the Money Laundering Act 2022.