Nigerian transgender celebrity jailed for throwing money into the air, a rare conviction

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A local court in Nigeria has handed a six-month imprisonment to a popular transgender woman after convicting her of throwing money into the air. Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju, better known as Bobrisky, was sentenced Friday without the option of a fine in a rare conviction that was criticized by many in the West African nation, a deeply conservative country where openly identifying as a transgender person is also criminalized.  It is common, though prohibited, for people to throw money into the air, a practice known as spraying, at social events in Nigeria.