Was Bobrisky jailed because of her transgender identity‪?‬ Africa Daily

“Before pronouncing sentence on Bobrisky, the judge asked, ‘are you male or female?’. For me this was a red flag. Bobrisky’s gender has nothing to do with whether he (or she) abused the Naira.”

Money spraying is part of Nigerian culture: throwing bank notes or putting them on a person’s forehead to congratulate them at weddings, birthdays or other big social events.

But since 2007, it’s technically been illegal – as those bank notes can fall to the ground and be trodden on - and the maximum punishment is six months in jail.

But until recently, prosecutions were rare.

So there was much consternation earlier this month when Nigerian internet personality and transgender woman, Bobrisky - who has 5 million followers on Instagram - was sentenced to spend 6 months in a male prison for ‘Naira abuse’ after spraying banknotes at a film premier.

The government says it’s just clamping down on the practice. But others argue that Bobrisky has been targeted because of her gender identity.