Oduduwa News

According to Punch, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has been released from the Kirikiri Correctional Centre. The controversial crossdresser and social media celebrity was set free on the morning of August 5, 2024, marking the end of a tumultuous period that had captured public and media attention.

Bobrisky’s incarceration had been a topic of widespread discussion and debate, given his prominent status as one of Nigeria’s most talked-about public figures. Known for his bold and often provocative online persona, Bobrisky’s legal troubles began following allegations related to naira abuse. His subsequent imprisonment sparked both support and criticism from various quarters, reflecting the polarized opinions about his public image and lifestyle.

Upon his release, Bobrisky was greeted by a throng of enthusiastic fans who had gathered outside the correctional facility to welcome him back. In a video shared on X.com, Bobrisky was seen expressing gratitude to his supporters, acknowledging their unwavering support throughout his ordeal. The brief clip showed him interacting with fans, emphasizing his resilience and determination to move forward.

Bobrisky’s release has reignited conversations about his impact on Nigerian society, particularly regarding issues of gender identity, freedom of expression, and the legal challenges faced by public figures in the country. His flamboyant persona and candid approach to discussing personal and societal issues have made him a polarizing figure, often drawing both admiration and controversy.

While details about his future plans remain scant, Bobrisky’s return to the public eye is expected to generate significant interest. His previous statements suggest a desire to continue his work as an influencer and advocate for self-expression, despite the challenges he has faced.

Soyinka said, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.

“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis. My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.

“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.

“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.

“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation. The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.

“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.”

Soyinka noted that the “nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention”.

He said, “Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.

“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so under-developed, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example. All it takes is to recall its own history, then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.

“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s BREAD AND BULLETS, if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the othetinubu’svicious cycle must be broken.”

Contrary to the demands of the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protesters, President Bola Tinubu has ruled out the return of fuel subsidy.

The President in a Nationwide broadcast to Nigerians on Sunday morning, disclosed that even though the decision to remove the fuel Subsidy was painful, it was necessary because it has constituted a noose around the economic “jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress.”

The President also told the protesters that law enforcement agencies would continue to ensure the full protection of lives and properties of innocent citizens in a responsible manner, adding that “Our democracy progresses when the constitutional rights of every Nigerian are respected and protected.”

President Tinubu stated that, “My vision for our country is one of a just and prosperous nation where each person may enjoy the peace, freedom, and meaningful livelihood that only democratic good governance can provide – one that is open, transparent and accountable to the Nigerian people.

“For decades, our economy has remained anaemic and taken a dip because of many misalignments that have stunted our growth. Just over a year ago, our dear country, Nigeria, reached a point where we couldn’t afford to continue the use of temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn generations. I therefore took the painful yet necessary decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems which had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress.”

President Bola Tinubu will address the nation in a broadcast on Sunday, August 4, 2024.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, announced this in a statement, on Saturday, sa7 amying the broadcast would hold at 7am.

“Television, radio, and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to plug into the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) for the broadcast.

“The broadcast will be repeated on the network services of the NTA and the FRCN at 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm on the same day,” Ngelale said.

Stakeholders have called on the president to address the nation amid the ongoing protest against hardship.

In a statement on Saturday, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had said Tinubu’s silence was worrisome.

“It is worrisome that President Tinubu could remain silent as Nigerians are on the streets demanding good governance, protection, security and welfare, which are the primary purpose of government, Debo Ologunagba, spokesman of the PDP said in a statement, on Saturday.

For the third day running, Nigerians have been out on the streets, demanding reversal of fuel subsidy removal and other policies they tagged anti-masses.

The protests have degenerated into violence in some states, with more than 40 persons killed, according to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Earlier, Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, had said that President Tinubu was monitoring the #EndBadGovernance protests.

“Mr President has been monitoring the situation, as he ought to. Very responsibly, and alert. I am a minister. I also have responsibilities. I have also been monitoring this thing. I have been noting this thing so that I can make inputs. We have been monitoring and listening carefully to hear what is being said and what noting them,” Bagudu had said when he was featured on a Channels Television programme.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde , has appreciated all youths and parents in Oyo State for ensuring peaceful demonstration across the State against hunger and hardship raging the Country.

The Governor expressed his gratitude in a statement by the State Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, following the sustenance of the peaceful protest which has entered the third day since it began on Thursday 1st of August.

The statement recalled that Governor Makinde was among the first set of leaders across Nigeria to publicly embrace the constitutionality of the #EndHungerProtest with an admonition that the Protest must be peaceful to achieve the desired result.

The Oyo State Governor further appealed to Nigerians to be law abiding and ensure that their agitation is without rancour and incitement throughout the period.

The Governor praised the people and most especially the youths for keeping their end of the bargain as they expect the federal government to make life better for all and sundry.

Governor Seyi Makinde equally called on Nigerians in States where various degrees of violence have been recorded during the protest to allow peace to reign as the search for good governance continues.

The Ogun State Government, on Saturday, described as a total fabrication the claim that Governor Dapo Abiodun called Nigerians sore losers over the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest.

Rather, it said, the governor was talking about certain losers of the 2023 elections who were cashing in on the dissent of Nigerian youths to destabilize the country, adding that the chaos that greeted the protest in several parts of the country had vindicated his position.

It stated that nowhere in the referenced interview with Channels TV did the governor suggest, even remotely, that ordinary Nigerians ventilating their grievances over the economic situation in the country are sore losers, adding that the governor is well known for his deep appreciation of Nigerian youths, students, and workers, whom he has always held in the highest esteem and spoken about in glowing terms.

This was made known by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abeokuta on Saturday.

The statement added that only on Friday, the governor lauded Ogun residents, particularly the youth, for shunning violent protests and conducting themselves in an exemplary manner, assuring that his administration remained committed to their happiness.

It stated that the governor was not only willfully and maliciously taken out of context in his characterization of certain political opponents of President Bola Tinubu using the ongoing hunger protest to feather their own nests, but is now also being persecuted by the same individuals through sponsored attacks on his person and office.

The statement added: “The claim that Governor Abiodun insulted ordinary Nigerians is spurious, malicious, and lacks any rational basis. Elementary rules of language indicate that the meaning of an expression resides in its context: Governor Abiodun could not have been referring to ordinary Nigerians as the sponsors of a faceless and leaderless protest.

“While Governor Abiodun did indeed mention sore losers, he was clearly emphasizing irredentist opposition leaders who do not wish the administration well, urging them to prepare for the 2027 polls instead of mindlessly discrediting every government policy just to excite passions and incite people against the government.

“To stretch his use of the word ‘Nigerians’ beyond its intended referents in this context is, therefore, to engage in intellectual fraud and plain mischief.

“Governor Abiodun has the utmost respect for the protesters, and he has made that clear on many occasions.”

As the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests entered the second day, Human Rights Lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN has asked youths to immediately suspend the demonstrations.

Adegboruwa is one of the lawyers of the Take It Back Movement, one of the groups participating in the nationwide protests.

He regretted deaths and losses recorded during the demonstrations, saying it was not the goal of the protests.

Recall the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) had on the eve of the protests on Wednesday urged the organisers to reduce the 10-day action to one day.

The lawyer in a statement obtained by The Nation on Friday, said: “Though the intention of the organisers was to achieve peaceful and well-coordinated protests, it would seem that fifth columnists and some angry persons infiltrated the ranks of the protesters to derail their laudable mission.

Muslims participating in the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in Osun State observed Juma’at Prayer at the Ola-Iya Underbridge in Osogbo on Friday.

This was revealed in photos and videos shared on social media.

The protesters conducted their prayers right at the protest venue at Ola-Iya underbridge in Osogbo.

They were surrounded by other protesters and security officers while praying.

Nigerians began the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest on Thursday to draw the government’s attention to the hardships faced by citizens.

Credit: X | InsideOsogbo, bcos_tv