Nigeria is a strongly conversative religious country, and homophobia is deeply engrained.
Homosexuality is deeply taboo, and FOGOROLA like many LGBTQI+ people in Nigeria, for a long time tried to deny his sexual orientation. He knew that coming out as LGBTQI+ would not only have been dangerous for himself, but also for his family, who would have to disown him or suffer serious consequences.
Many individuals interviewed by Savannah News said that prior to the enactment of the SSMPA in January 2014, the general public objected to homosexuality primarily on the basis of religious beliefs and perceptions of what constitutes African culture and tradition.
The law has become a tool being used by some police officers and members of the public to legitimize multiple human rights violations perpetrated against LGBT people. Such violations include torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, violations of due process rights, and extortion.
Savannah News research indicates that since January 2014, there have been rising incidents of mob violence, with groups of people gathering together and acting with a common intent of committing acts of violence against persons based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
The police used the law for the first time in 2019 to prosecute 47 men accused of same-sex public displays of affection in Lagos State. A court dismissed the case because the police failed to appear and present witnesses.
This was exactly what happened in Delta State the South-south Nigeria few weeks where Nigeria police arrested “over hundred gay suspects in a hotel carrying out a gay wedding ceremony”.
This particular incident went viral in the Nigeria media houses. Savannah News have tried to interviewed numerous of those affected by the raid by Nigeria Police Force. Many have narrated their Ordeals to us and we have documented them for posterity sake.
FOGOROLA AYODELE ANTHONY, 50-year-old gay man born in Nigeria was amongst the 100 gay arrested in Delta in Teebulous Hotel.
A police spokesperson in the southern Delta state told reporters that 100 people will be prosecuted for “allegedly conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony in an hotel.
The police shamelessly livestreamed the media spectacle on their official Delta State police Facebook page. Police boldly said Nigeria cannot copy the western world. He buttressed people must follow the culture of this country.
In 2022, Nigeria’s Federal High Court found that pretrial media parades violate the country’s constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which guarantee respect for the dignity of the person and the right to a fair trial, including the presumption of innocence.
Despite this ruling, police have continued the abusive practice with total impunity.
Guardians Newspapers, one of the reputable media house in Nigeria equally reported that the security agencies arrived at the said hotel, the gay members immediately took to their heels, scampering in different directions. Police officers chased and arrested a total number of 67 suspects, both male and female, for allegedly conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony between Daniel Pius, ‘m’ (the groom), 22, and Maxwell Ohwonohwo, ‘m’ (bride), 20. Others News outlets are saying over 100 gay were arrested.
Amnesty International Nigeria condemned the situation as “a witch-hunt.” It called on Delta state police to release the detained people, who were “arrested and paraded to the media” and to “put an immediate end to this witch-hunt,” The statement was made on X, formerly known as Twitter just immediately the incident occurred.
Upon interrogation, FOGOROLA AYODELE ANTHONY confessed to have known the couple. Equally, he confessed to have been a member of the gay group.
Police began torturing him and molesting him for involving in an unpardonable offence under the Nigeria constitution. He was wrecked, annihilated, and completely exterminated. In all of this, he was managed to escape from police facility due to the laxity in Nigeria security system.
Many offenders who was arrested actually escaped from police facility while others were arraigned in the competent court of law. Savannah News confirmed authoritatively that the case is still pending as of the time of putting this story together.
Having escaped from police facility, FOGOROLA AYODELE name and others were taken by local media and splashed across newspapers around the nation. This is where is parent, friends and foes got to know FOGOROLA AYODELE is a gay.
Fogorola has been on the run and currently not available to further our interaction with him on the basis of persecution. Whoever who comes across him should accommodate and protect him from vampires.
