Bobrisky is a Nigerian internet personality who is a popular cross-dresser (or a transgender woman, which is a term we will be using in this article) in Nigeria. She was born Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju in 1992 and also goes by the nickname ‘Bob Risky’ or ‘risky bobo’. While there is no right existing exclusively for trans-people in Nigeria, Bobrisky still lives freely although on occasions has faced cyberbullying, discriminations and persecutions from authorities.
Controversies have always surrounded her life and with the attention, she has become a much-followed internet personality over the last few years. Prior to this time, she faced lots of hurdles on her way to achieving the gender she has chosen.
Take a glance at 10 facts you should know about Bobrisky before continuing with the rest of her biography.
10 facts about Bobrisky
- Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju is the full name of Bobrisky and she was born in 1992.
- Bob risky was born into a Muslim before converting to Christianity.
- She coined her moniker from her childhood nickname ‘Bobo’, and risky, a nod to how she continually challenges Nigerian conservative attitudes.
- She became popular after she was arrested for cross-dressing and remains popular for her online antics and brimstone personality.
- The internet celebrity and Tonto Dikeh have been very good friends and appear to be as close as even siblings.
- The popular transgender online personality is allegedly worth millions of dollars and owns a five-bedroom duplex in Lagos upper-class region, Lekki Peninsula.
- Bobrisky was the most searched individual in Nigeria on Google from October 26 to November 2016.
- She once posted about being gay but had quickly deleted the post after some time.
- She underwent surgery in 2019 to add feminine features to her body but it is unclear if this involved changing her sexes, because if so, she would have to be referred to as transexual.
- Bobrisky’s Snapchat premium account has over 2 million subscribers as of February 2020.
Bobrisky Biography: Early life
Bobrisky was born a male named Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju on 31 August 1992 to Yoruba parents from Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State. While the names of her late parents are withheld, Bobrisky pictures once revealed them during a Muslim Sallah festival in Ogun state.
She had travelled to her hometown in Ijebu-Ode to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir in October 2019 and posted the parents of Bobrisky photos on Instagram.
Bob had grown up in Lagos State, one of Nigeria’s major cities and schooled there. According to Wikipedia’s article on the transgender woman, she is an alumnus of King’s College, Lagos, a prestigious and famous secondary school founded on 20 September 1909 that admits only male students.
After completing her first Secondary School Certificate Examination, she went on to the University of Lagos. The University of Lagos, popularly known as Unilag, is a public research university in Lagos, Nigeria. It was one of the first-generation universities in Nigeria and was founded in 1962. She studied accounting at Unilag after getting admission in 2001 and graduated in
While at the university, Bobrisky converted to Christianity because of several reasons. She said the Muslim practice of praying fives daily was exhausting for her. The second reason was that she was influenced by his Christian roommate.
Speaking about her conversion from Islam to Christianity, Bobrisly tells the Vanguard newspaper during a 2016 interview:
“I am not a practicing Muslim. If I have to be a practicing Muslim, I will have to do ablution five times a day and apply make-up after each ablution and that will be very stressful. I started going to church as an undergraduate. My room-mate was one of the executives of the Christian Fellowship.
“So I got fascinated and usually joined them to pray. I know prayer works and do that daily. My Muslim name is Idris. I don’t really have a Christian name. But I use ‘Olanrewaju’ as cover; by this, people will not know if I am a Christian or a Muslim.”
It is important to note that while still in secondary school and university, Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju, now called Bobrisky, identified as male.
However, Bobrisky started to come out slowly to the Nigerian conservative society at a time when effeminacy was strongly frowned upon. Even today, it is not generally accepted but opinions are changing with the increase in knowledge.
Bobrisky biography: Crossdressing
As mentioned in the last paragraph, Bobrisky started out slowly to display effeminacy. Effeminacy is the manifestation of traits in a boy or man that are more often associated with the feminine nature. This includes feminine behaviour, mannerism, style, or gender roles.
She revealed that even as a child, before fully coming out for a gender change, that her mother usually tried to force down her feminine behaviours. One online blog, Buzz Nigeria, even claimed that her mother once hired thugs to beat her.
Also according to the blog, Bobrisky’s gradual physical transformation began during her university days. While still identifying as a man, Bob bleached her skin. But she didn’t stop there then.
“[She] would apply modest facial makeup in [her] years in the university and wear women’s attire and deceived men in clubs and bars but always decline [sic] when an admirer expressed a desire for intimacy,” the blog claims.
Also, with her good female fashion sense even while identifying as a man, Bob went into the business of selling women clothing. She allegedly started dressing as a woman to attract customers.
Bobrisky before and after
A lot of people have sometimes wondered about what the popular transgender online personalitylooked like before and after bleaching her skin. It is, of course, not news that the transgender Nigerian social media celebrity had been dark-skinned in the past.
However, using skin lightening cream and chemicals, she had turned her dark to fairer shade, which she clearly preferred. So, it’s natural, for someone who is interested, to want to know what the internet celebrity used to look like. Luckily, there are quite a few Bobrisky pictures around, some of which have been shared by herself. See one below and another that shows her current look.
Many of the Bobrisky before and after photos on the internet is used as a means of scorn by people who dislike the celebrity. Here is one example of Biobrisky before and after picture circulating on the internet:
See another one here:
Is Bobrisky male or female?
If there is one thing that confused people in the past about Bobrisky, it is the question of whether she is a woman or a man? This is because the Nigerian conservative society does not allow people to come out openly as transgender.
However, the blame is not entirely on society’s shoulders as Bobriky previously went back and forth on this particular issue. As we mentioned, the internet sensation, whose birth name is Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju, had been born a man.
Initially, when Bobbrisky first started becoming popular following her cross-dressing antics, she was roundly persecuted for it. However, even then she was still identifying a male. It is only more recently that she identified as a woman, so it is only logical to call her what she prefers to identify as – a woman.
The first instance is when the celebrity went on a viral rant about fans referring to her as “bro”. At the time, she had shot back:
“I’m going to post a picture and you tell me, you look good bro. Who is your bro? Please, tani bro e? Your bro is in Yaba, collecting treatment.”
That was in May 2019 and Bobrisky clearly felt irritated to be referred to as a male. Also, in November 2019, she revealed that she had undergone major surgery to add feminine parts to her body. We would talk more about that in the proceeding section of this article.
So, it is only natural for media sources to start assigning her the female pronoun. So one can read something like the following about her, “Bobrisky, a known Nigerian transgender…” For instance see articles like these ones – Wikipedia, Capitalfm, Gal-dem – seem to confirm that many have agreed that the internet celebrity is a transgender woman.
Also read: Bobrisky hints that he might be pregnant
In 2018, Kito Diaries also revealed that she had come out to say she is a girl, in a comment attributed to her, she said:
“A lot of you have been asking me, ‘Bobrisky, are you a girl or a guy… Do you use the female toilet or you use the male toilet?’ Of course, I use the female toilet because I am a girl,” she declares in a video posted on Instagram. “Some others ask me, ‘Bobrisky, when you fill forms, do you fill the female or male?’ Of course, I fill female. Even at the airport, a guy cannot search me. It has to be a girl.”
Is Bobrisky a Snapchat s-----e celebrity?
Bobrisky is also popularly listed as one of the few Nigerian S-----e celebrities and Snapchat S-----e celebrities. Here is a common explanation of S-----e:
A term most commonly used in the p---------y industry to describe trans women or other people with male genitalia and female secondary sex characteristics (including breasts) acquired via hormones or surgery.
Thus, it is not correct to refer to her as a S-----e celebrity or even a popular Snapchat s-----e celebrity. This is because Bob has said time and again that she prefers to be called a woman.
Bobrisky plastic surgery in 2019
She had taken time to transform from what she looked like to who she wants to be seen as. We have detailed her long journey from starting off as a crossdresser to bleaching her skin.
However, Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju, underwent some surgeries in 2019 in Dubai, to add feminine parts to her body. It is important however to clear the air surrounding transgender and transsexual people.
According to a Wikipedia definition:
“Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their sex assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual.”
Thus, Bob did not have to go through any surgery to become transgender. Identifying as a woman alone has made Bobrisky a woman and a surgery to change sexual organs will only make her transsexual.
Another important aspect of the surgery was that it turned out to be more painful than expected. The social media celebrity had taken to her Instagram page to describe the gory details of her post-recovery steps. She mentioned swelling and bleedings as well.
To read more about this, click here. However, after some time and clearly recovering from the procedure, she started to flood the internet with her pictures again. This time, she showed off her new body in sensational outfits and raunchy poses.
Besides breasts surgery, it is not known whether Bobrisky has undergone genital reassignment surgery, that is, whether or not her natural sexual characteristics have been altered to resemble that of females.
Bobrisky ‘Full sex change’ in 2021
In December 2020, the popular transgender online personality revealed that she will be going for a ‘full sex change’ in 2021. Via an Instagram post, the popular transgender woman who is mistaken for a s-----e celebrity wrote:
“2021, I’m going for a full sex change. Columbia get ready.”
She said that she had saved over $300,000 for the process mentioning a certain Dr Philip. In a followup post, Bob risky revealed that she decided to become a woman after noticing that she fit in more as a female than a male person.
Additionally, it was easier to make money. “I was formally a man for almost 25yrs, nothing to show for it. I kept struggling even with my certificate as a graduate of accounting in University of Lagos, nothing to still show for it. I saw how all my females friends were cashing out back then [sic],” she wrote.
Then she added, “So I gave my body more time, rubbing expensive creams, smelling good, using more of females body pills and looking out for myself. Boom more money keep coming… men admiring me, women giving me endorsements from right and left.”
Many have also wondered why Bobrisky decided to leave Nigeria for her surgery even comparing Columbia currency to Naira. Let’s see how they both compare.
Columbia currency to naira
Columbians spend the Columbian Peso, which is poorer than the Nigerian Naira. For example, 100 Columbian Peso is equal to 11 Naira (as of when this article was published). Thus $300,000 will amount to 1,057,674,000 Colombian Peso while it will be 118,350,000 Nigerian naira.
Bobrisky facing discrimination in Nigeria
It is actually not all rosy in the public scene for the transgender Bobrisky. A lot of people are actually yet to accept the celebrity as she wants to be seen. This has led to many persecutions that we will point out in the following subsections.
Disrespecting her personal preferences
There are many publications who still use the masculine pronouns, “he” and “him” for her despite Bobrisky’s preference to be addressed as a female. In some instances, top blogs use the pronouns mischievously while some just stubbornly want to maintain that she is a male as she was born that way.
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Police arrests Bobrisky
The first time many heard of Bobrisky was around 2013-2014 when Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju was allegedly arrested for dressing as a woman. Although not much came out of it, the incident marked the starting point of both her fame and troubles.
Following this early arrest, most of the challenges she faced were from internet trolls. However, one of Bobrisky’s most recent run-in with the police took place on 31st August 2019 on a day that was supposed to be her birthday. Men from the Nigeria Police Force had broken up Bobrisky’s widely publicised birthday party.
The law enforcement agents had sealed off the birthday venue. They had explained that it was to ensure that there was no “breach of public peace” and “no immoral display.”
She again had problems with the police when she had allegedly come out as gay. However, she came out later that same day to debunk the rumours that she had been arrested and all her cars seized.
Stigmatisation and discrimination over bathroom usage
In October 2019, there was an uproar on social media after Bobrisky allegedly used female toilet facilities at the Abuja airport.
In an instance of discrimination and stigmatisation reported by Sahara Reporters, the chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Ekpe Phillip was quoted as saying:
“People like Bobrisky need help and that is why they must seek psychological assistance. Bobrisky is a man whether he likes it or not and so should not be seen in a female toilet. If this is allowed to continue, then we could be dealing with a health hazard.
“What he is engaging in is just for publicity stunt because he remains a normal man whichever way we want to look at it.
“He is yet to expose his private parts for us to know if he actually is a transgender.
“So, in my view, it is not about Bobrisky feeling he is a woman, it is about other [members] of the society knowing that he is not a woman.
“Bobrisky and his likes cannot function as normal women because they do not have uterus and womb.
“Nigeria is a country with laws against gay activities and this must be respected by all.”
Also following the bathroom incident, Otunba Segun Runsewe, who is the current director-general of National Centre for Arts and Culture – a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture -, raised an alarm regarding her in an interview with The PUNCH in Abuja.
According to Runsewe, the NBA should enlighten people on the dangers of sharing a public toilet with the internet celebrity.
Runsewe likened threats from sharing Bobrisky to the Ebola epidemic, which killed about 11,315 people in 2014. His words:
“Bobrisky is a serious health hazard for Nigeria and Nigerians. The health hazard Bobrisky has is worse than Ebola virus disease; travellers and tourists should be careful whenever they notice the presence of Bobrisky, mostly as it affects the sharing of public facilities.
“Women are prone to get various types of diseases from the toilet than sexual intercourse. Now, Bobrisky will enter the same toilet with a woman and at the end, the woman will contract some kind of diseases.”
If this is a glimpse of what people with high academic qualifications think of transgender people in Nigeria, it is best left to the imagination what some of the less-educated Nigerians would think.
Controversies
Bobrisky has been embroiled in many social media controversies since she became famous. The internet celebrity is popular for not holding back when it comes to trading insults online. Here are some of the most popular controversial moments of Bobrisky:
Dr Ify Okoye
In 2019, Dr Ify Okoye, who is a dental surgeon, had accused Nigerian the cross-dresser of owing her N8 million. The dentist claimed that the money was due for repayment since December 2018. She also accused Bobrisky of blocking her number after she threatened to alert bloggers to help her get her money back. The popular transgender online personality admitted to owing the doctor N300,000 and not N8m as she claims. Nothing else was known of the matte, whether it was settled or not.
Toyin Lawani
Following Toyin Lawani’s 1 March 2020 birthday celebration, Bobrisky subtly shaded her, calling the fashion influencer and serial entrepreneur “broke”. According to Bobrisky, Toyin Lawani was asking for donations from people in order to celebrate her birth. An insult that Toyin ignored. It’s instructive that she and Toyin were formerly tight friends but broke up and since then became sworn enemies. She even at one time claimed that Toyin got her arrested.
Following Bobrisky’s shade at Toyin, Johntel Peters, aka Official Black Barbie – a model that works for Toyin – called out Bob risky for disrespecting the serial entrepreneur and alleged that “[she] was thrown out of Toyin Lawani’s company by the security guards.”
Johntel also claimed that Bobrisky had horrible body odour, which affected Toyin’s clothes. The internet celebrity did not take kindly to the criticism and decided to unleash his anger on Johntel Peters. But while at it, she dragged Toyin kids, Tiannah and Tenor, into the rift.
Sharing a photo of the young man, Bobrisky writes: “See how ugly he looks here. Tell your mother Toyin Lawani to come for me. You are freaking too small for trust me.
“Since your mother wants another episode of this fight, I’m ready for this. Do I have to blame this dirty looking rat?
“Since Toyin now wear you wigs and gowns why won’t you open your dirty mouth to tell me she made me. Toyin Lawani can never wear wig or cloth on her son but she feels comfortable wearing it on other people sons, which is not my business.
“Like I said earlier, I don’t have issues with you I have fight with your mother with different babies from different father !!!!!
“Rubbish if your mother wasn’t broke what took her all the months to refund my money. You all must be crazy.”
Bob risky also claimed that Toyin Lawani was jealous of her and had once gotten her arrested out of jealousy.
James Brown YouTube video
In January 2020, a James Brown YouTube video accused Bobrisky of threatening to kill him for copying her content. Brown had firs posted a video to address the incident on Instagram but after his account was taken down, he went on YouTube.
The crossdresser claimed to respect Bob a lot and was disappointed at the allegations. He also blamed her for making Instagram take down his account.
In the James Brown YouTube video, the crossdresser also said that he does his online content for fun and when he is going out in public, he always reverts to dressing as a man.
Bobrisky’s other online beef and controversies
There are so many celebrities that Bobrisky has gone head to head with. She had insulted MC Galaxy, Tobi of Big Brother Naija: Double Wahala, Denrele, Daddy Freeze, Tunde Ednut, and many more. Here is a summary of some of the people Bobrisky had had online spats with on social media.
Is Bobrisky gay?
In 2017, she had posted about being gay but had hurriedly deleted the Instagram post. Many have concluded that Bobrisky must be gay because the crossdresser had always mentioned some boyfriend she referred to as ‘bae’ who she alleges is the fourth richest man in Africa.
Bob also claims that most of her expensive properties come from him. These include car gifts as well as designer clothes and accessories.
So the allusion is that Bobrisky is gay but there is no confirmation of the fact or at least a confirmation that the transgender woman stands by. He could equally be straight or bi for all we know.
Relationship with Tonto Dikeh
Despite her uneasy online character, Bob and Tonto Dikeh share a close bond. Both of them appear to have a very strong friendship going on between them with some people wringing up theories that they may be in some sort of a romantic relationship.
Bobrisky has professed love for the actress on several occasions. In one post, she referred to Tonto Dikeh as “My, love, my everything, my sugar, my heartbeat, … area friend, my mother, my family…” And in another post stated that she “can kill for Tonto Dikeh”.
Tonto Dikeh called Bobrisky a good pal during her interview with BBC Pidgin. Bobrisky and Tonto Dikeh also often attend events together as well as meeting regularly at their homes, although she lives in Lagos while Tonto Dikeh lives in Abuja.
These two celebrity friends are not letting distance come between their friendship. However, the duo has not been seen in public as often as before, which Tonto Dikeh said was because the cross-dresser has business engagements.
What is Bobrisky net worth?
Most of Bobrisky’s money comes from her entrepreneurial endeavours. Although there is no official information on Bobrisky net worth we will provide information gathered from our research.
One of the first things to understand is that while Bob may seem controversial and unliked, she actually has a huge social media following. Mainly using her Instagram and Snapchat pages, she can earn lots of money from running ads for many companies and brands.
One online blog alleges that Bobrisky once had N40 million in two bank accounts as well as running a N30 million cosmetics shop. She also has a five-bedroom duplex in Lekki Pennisula, Lagos State since 2017 according to the media outlet.
Another blog claims that the famous Snapchat Star, Bobrisky net worth is $13 million in 2020.
The internet celebrity claims to sell bleaching cream to clients in the United Kingdom and Germany, which costs about $400 per cream.
Many times, she flaunts expensive-looking pieces of jewellery and travels to different countries. She also drives expensive cars and lives in a choice property in Lekki. He claims to own all these luxury items. Yet, it is difficult to pinpoint and verify exactly how much the controversial celebrity is worth.
Bobrisky fame
Bobrisky is quite famous in Nigeria, maybe beyond as well. While she has millions following her online, there are many more people interested in her life that do not follow her social media accounts.
For example, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s communications and public affairs manager for West Africa, said Bobrisky was the most searched individual from October 26 to November 2016.
Also, Chief Olusegun Runsewe, the director-general of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) once said about the celebrity:
“Bobrisky is a national disaster, an embarrassment to the country, engaging in cultural corruption as a cross-dresser and we have to start to curtail his activities before it gets out of hand
“We will not allow Bobrisky to destroy the future of our youths and the unborn Nigerians.”
Yes, whether you like or hate her, she is certainly famous and she makes sure she remains famous through her various online antics.
Final thoughts …
Since the transgender celebrity has identified herself as a woman, we are using her correct pronouns as she prefers. While Bobrisky has been controversial and unrestrained in many of her social media encounters, she stands out for being one of the most prominent among the persecuted LGBT community in Nigeria.
Also, she has used her fame as a means of financing her business and advancing her entrepreneurial endeavours. What is there not to admire about that.
While many will find her never-ending online beef and insulting other celebrities untenable, one couldn’t help but wonder if her actions are not a matter of self-defence? So in some ways, those persecuting her may have contributed to making her the way she is. The Nigerian authority and many of those in authority discriminates against her. Bobrisky’s only defence is her screen and keyboard.
Kindly note that this is only an observation on our part and constitutes neither approval nor censure of Bobrisky’s behaviour. It is her life, let her live it the best way she knows how.
We hope you enjoyed reading the article. Kindly check out more articles about your favourite celebrities biographies in the Celebrity Biography section.
Hmmm…… nawaooo.