Inmate Who Was Sentenced To Death By Hanging Ran TikTok Live Shows, Earned Money Online From Prison

• A convicted murderer serving a death sentence in Ibara Maximum Security Custodial Centre ran multiple TikTok accounts, received gifts and placed bets from inside his cell
• The inmate, Elijah Oyebode, claimed during a livestream that phones outnumber inmates at the facility and that warders smuggle devices, drugs, and even esc0rt condemned prisoners outside
• The Nigerian Correctional Service confirmed disciplinary action against over 1,400 officers but said it needed evidence to act on specific claims of digital misconduct by inmates

A man sentenced to death for murder at a maximum security prison in Abeokuta, Ogun State, built an active TikTok presence from inside his cell, earning money through livestreams, receiving gifts from viewers, and placing sports bets while behind bars.

The inmate, Elijah Oyebode, was convicted in 2019 by Justice S. O. Falola of the Osun State High Court for the 2016 murder of Rofiat Adebisi, a final-year student of Osun State University who was abducted at a roadside and killed for ritual purposes. He was sentenced to death by hanging.

Phones, bets, and gifts from death row

Despite his sentence, Oyebode maintained at least two TikTok accounts, including one under the handle @ayola.oluwafu, which reached Level 20 gifting status on the platform, a milestone tied to substantial financial transactions.

As reported by Nigerian Tribune, during an April 16, 2026 livestream monitored by Saturday Tribune, he openly described prison life, saying:

"An individual may have two to three phones. Facebook and TikTok are full of prisoners." He also disclosed earning ₦85,000 from a single sports bet placed the previous month.

Oyebode also created a second account impersonating Omolola Awoyele, a TikTok live host who later confronted him and confirmed through a video call that he was broadcasting from inside the facility. Awoyele said she initially contacted lawyers on his behalf, believing his claims of innocence, but withdrew support after obtaining the certified true copy of the court proceedings and receiving a confession from him on a call. He subsequently began sending threats to her from the prison.

Officers named as enablers

Oyebode described a system in which correctional officers act as intermediaries for smuggling mobile phones and drugs into the facility.

He said officers who bring in phones also seize them from other inmates and demand payment for their return, Leadership reported.

He further claimed that wealthy death-row inmates are occasionally escorted outside the prison by officers to supervise private building projects and meet contacts arranged through social media.

The National Spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Jane Osuji, acknowledged the possibility of compromised staff.

"Where there are so many individuals, there will be one or two bad eggs," she said,

She added that over 1,400 officers had faced disciplinary action. She warned the public against sending money to inmates online, saying such support "may leave correctional facilities worse than when they entered."

Cybersecurity expert Professor Tunde Olabiyisi recommended installing signal jammers configured to a defined perimeter to render smuggled, unapproved devices unusable inside prison grounds without affecting surrounding civilian areas.

Weeks after the platform announced a sweep that removed 4.02 million Nigerian videos and disrupted over 86,000 live sessions, Oyebode's primary account remained active, operating under a new display name with its profile set to private.

6 Kuje inmates bag degree award

Previously, Legit.ng reported that six inmates of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja, have earned university degrees from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), marking a significant milestone in Nigeria’s correctional education and rehabilitation efforts.

The certificates were presented at a ceremony in Abuja, highlighting the growing impact of educational access within custodial facilities and reinforcing the principle that incarceration can be a pathway to reform and reintegration.