Abuja, NIGERIA — A Nigerian popular cross-dresser, Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju, popularly known as Bobrisky has arrested on Wednesday evening by personnel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos State, agency’s spokesman, Mr Dele Oyewale has confirmed on Thursday morning.
According to the EFCC spokesman, Bobrisky was arrested for mutilation of naira notes and not for his lifestyle as a cross-dresser.
“It is true our boys arrested him yesterday evening in Lagos for naira abuse. We don’t have anything to do with his lifestyle (being a cross-dresser). He was suspected of committing an economic crime and that was the reason for his arrest,” Oyewale explained.
Bobrisky’s arrest comes barely 24 hours after the Nigeria Police Force stated that it lacked enough evidence to arrest him for same-sex activities.
The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday said it could not arrest Bobrisky over calls to arrest the crossdresser.
The Force Public Relations Officers, Olumuyiwa Ademola told Channels TV on Tuesday that cross-dressers cannot be arrested because Nigeria has no law against cross-dressing.
He also said there is no evidence to support claims that cross-dressers also belong to the LGBTQ+ community.
He said, “There are some cases that are always very difficult to prove.
“I’m not ruling out that we have many of them. Let us be reasonable, you can’t have someone you want to prosecute without having credible evidence against them. I have not read anywhere where cross-dressing is an offence in Nigeria.
“Some of them that are into cross-dressing, the allegation is that they are into something else.
“That’s where the problem lies. We need to have enough proof, credible evidence to prove that they are actually into that. All those offences are natural offences in Nigeria and they are punishable under our laws.”
The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill was signed into law in Nigeria on January 7, 2014, by then-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The law criminalises public displays of affection between same-sex couples.
The law imposes a 14-year prison sentence on anyone who “[enters] into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union”. It also imposes a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders, who “witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union.”
It imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who “directly or indirectly make [a] public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship” and anyone who “registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations,” including supporters of those groups.
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