Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Friday convicted popular Nigerian cross-dresser Idris “Bobrisky” Okuneye of naira abuse.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Bobrisky with six counts of abuse and money laundering.

The court convicted the defendant following his guilty plea.

The court, however, reserved the sentence until April 9 and ordered that he be remanded in custody of the EFCC until then.

When the case was called, the prosecutor, Suleiman Suleiman, informed the court that the defendant agreed to plead guilty to the charge following a discussion.

He, consequently, applied for counts five and six to be struck out, leaving counts one to four. The court accordingly struck out counts five and six.

Ayo Olumofin appeared in defence.

When the remaining counts were read to the defendant, he pleaded guilty. Following his plea, the prosecutor called on the investigating police officer to give a brief review of the case as its prosecution witness.

The witness, Bolaji Temitope, an assistant superintendent of the EFCC, said that during the investigation, the team came about a video where the defendant was seen mutilating the naira notes.

He said the videos were downloaded and copied on a compact disc (CD) while a letter of invitation was sent to the defendant.

According to him, the defendant honoured the invitation. When he arrived at the EFCC office, he was cautioned, and then he volunteered a statement.

The witness told the court that Bobrisky was shown a video where he sprayed money on an artiste called Segun Johnson, adding that the defendant confessed and admitted that he was the person in the video.

He said that the defendant was also shown a video of him at Circle Mall Lekki, where he sprayed N400,000 at a movie premier, adding that the defendant again admitted the same.

The witness said Bobrisky was also shown two videos of him spraying money at Ajah and Ikorodu junction in Lagos, and the defendant still admitted the same.

At this point, the prosecutor showed the witness the CD containing the videos, the defendant’s statement, and the certificate of identification.

The witness confirmed the same to the court, and the defence had no objection.

The court, consequently, admitted the same and marked them exhibit A, B1 and B2.

The prosecutor then urged the court to convict the defendant, who was charged based on the case presented by the EFCC.

The court, consequently, found the defendant guilty of the offence as charged and accordingly convicted him.

In his plea for mercy, the defendant told the court he is a social media influencer with five million followers.

“In all honesty, I was not aware of the law; my lord, I wish I could be given a second chance to use my platform to educate my followers about spraying the naira.

“I will do a video on my page and educate those who do not know, like myself, about spraying the naira; I regret my action,” he said.

On his part, the defence counsel begged for a non-custodial sentence for the defendant.

The court then rose briefly after the allocutus by the defence.

Bobrisky was arrested by the anti-graft agency in connection with the offence.

(NAN)