Death Row Inmate Runs TikTok Empire From Abeokuta Prison

​The towering concrete walls and razor wire of Ibara Prison in Abeokuta are meant to represent the absolute limit of state confinement. Yet, behind these maximum-security barriers, a convicted murderer on death row has built a thriving digital presence, hosting live-stream sessions, running illicit businesses, and accumulating thousands of followers on TikTok.

​Elijah Oyebode was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging in 2019 by Justice S. O. Falola of the Osun State High Court. Court records from Suit No. HIK/6C/2017 reveal that Mr Oyebode conspired to murder Rofiat Adebisi, a final-year student of Osun State University, in December 2016 for ritualistic purposes. Despite medical evidence confirming death by strangulation and a court-rejected web of conflicting alibis, the inmate now enjoys unhindered access to the outside world through smuggled smartphones.

​The Prison Contraband Economy

​Operating under primary handles such as @ayola.oluwafu, Mr Oyebode achieved Level 20 gifting status on TikTok—a milestone denoting financial transactions running into millions of naira. During public livestreams, the inmate admitted that phones and contraband are routinely smuggled into the facility through a compromised internal system.

​According to Mr Oyebode, correctional warders serve as both suppliers at the prison gate and extortionists who demand payoffs for lost or seized devices. He claimed that the underground economy extends far beyond communications, alleging that illicit drugs generate massive profit margins and that select wealthy inmates are occasionally escorted out of custody to personally supervise private real estate projects.

​Legal experts point out that these actions violate multiple provisions of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019. Section 29 prescribes strict penalties, including multi-year imprisonment and heavy fines for officers caught facilitating communications or smuggling contraband.

ADVERTISEMENT

​Platform Oversight and Regulatory Blind Spots

​While the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) acknowledged that internal security faces challenges with compromised personnel and has disciplined over 1,400 officers for various infractions, digital platforms have also faced intense scrutiny. TikTok processed transactions, recommended illicit content, and enabled monetization for a prominent criminal before launching a reactive sweep that removed millions of videos nationwide. Despite these platform-wide purges, Mr Oyebode’s primary account continues to operate under modified aliases.

​Cybersecurity professionals and legal scholars argue that passive content moderation is insufficient. Experts advocate for the deployment of targeted cellular signal jammers within defined prison perimeters to permanently disable unauthorized devices without disrupting neighboring public infrastructure.