A convicted murderer on death row at the Ibara Custodial Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has been found operating active TikTok accounts, hosting livestreams, and receiving monetary gifts from users — all from inside a Nigerian prison facility.
The inmate, Elijah Oyebode, was convicted in 2019 for the ritual murder of Rofiat Adebisi, a final-year student of Osun State University who was killed in 2016. Despite denying involvement during his trial, the court found him guilty on the strength of evidence presented and sentenced him to death by hanging.
An investigation by Premium Times uncovered that Oyebode had been maintaining at least two TikTok accounts, one of which had attained Level 20 gifting status — an indicator of substantial financial transactions on the platform. He was also alleged to have created a fraudulent account using the identity of TikTok host and activist Omolola Awoyele, a claim he reportedly admitted to only after being directly confronted.
In a particularly alarming development, Oyebode used one of his livestream sessions to allege that mobile phone access among inmates at the facility is far from uncommon, claiming that correctional officers actively assist in smuggling phones into the prison. He further alleged that some officers confiscate the devices and demand payments before returning them, pointing to what he described as an entrenched phone-smuggling and extortion racket operating within the prison walls.
The revelations have raised serious questions about security protocols and supervision standards at the custodial centre, and have prompted calls for an urgent investigation into the alleged misconduct by prison officials.
