Some parents and guardians in the country’s capital have decried the growing crossdressing trend among youths and have called for measures to curb it.
They spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, May 5, in Abuja.
According to the parents, the call becomes imperative following the level of popularity and acceptance crossdressers are gaining from youths, with many following them on social media.
They lamented that aside from the recently convicted Idris Okunneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, the self-acclaimed ‘Mummy of Lagos’, there are other emerging crossdressers with large following.
They said such crossdressers include Jay Boogie, who was born Daniel Nsikan, James Brown, whose baptismal name is James Obialor, ‘Miss Sahhar’ and Noni Salma, among many others.
According to the parents, the “ Bobrisky menace” is an epidemic that requires punitive measures to check and value re-orientation among young Nigerians effectively.
Uche Daniels, a school principal, said that although Bobrisky was convicted for abusing the Naira, his statement of being “a social media influencer with millions of followers called for concern.
“Imagine Bobrisky having over five million followers on social media. Of course, that is a vast number, comprising our children who gradually drift towards accepting and following a wrong lifestyle. Before the court, he said he was a social media influencer, but the question should be whether the influence is positive or negative on society and our moral orientations.
‘‘Consider how many of the number are children whose sexual orientations have changed as a result of his influence and how many upcoming ‘Bobriskys’ he has raised? Our moral fabric is tearing apart, and the future has to be rescued; we must cry out urgently,” she said.
