Nigeria’s Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2013 has made a bad situation much worse for Nigeria’s beleaguered lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
The law has led to an increase in extortion and violence against people in this categories, and imposed restrictions on nongovernmental organizations providing essential services to them Nigeria.
Nigeria’s anti-gay law, enacted in January 2014 by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, stipulates a 14-year prison term for anyone convicted of having sex with members of the same sex.
The Nigerian government put the law to the test for the first time in December 2019 when 47 men arrested by the police in a hotel in Lagos the previous year were arraigned in court, accused of publicly displaying affection for members of the same sex.
Same similar scenario played out in Delta State the South-south Nigeria just of recent where Nigeria police arrested “over hundred gay suspects in a hotel carrying out a gay wedding ceremony”.
AGBADAOLA OLAKUNLE, 39-year-old gay man born in Nigeria was amongst the 100 gay arrested in Delta in Teebulous Hotel. Who’s still hidden in an unknown place on the basis of persecution.
Agbadaola before his arrest has been repeatedly harassed, threatened and tortured by the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), a private militia that has been known to attack lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. The first time he was assaulted occurred in November 2019, when he was at his apartment with his partner. While they were having sex, a neighbour walked into the unlocked apartment without knocking.
The neighbour began to scream and call for other neighbours to arrive. Approximately 14 people came and began beating him and his partner with rubber canes and belts.
OPC abducted and detained him and his partner, accusing them for being a gay couple, a forbidden act in Nigeria. They were held for 15 days, kept naked and blindfolded and were severely beaten. The group also tortured him by inserting a wax candle into his anus and lighting it. After release, he and his partner did not report the OPC to the police because homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria, and they believed they, instead of the people who tortured them, would be punished.
He contacted his friends in Delta State and narrate his ordeal to them. He was told to relocate to Delta State. He obliged and moved in to Delta with his partner. They actually thought they would be safer from the OPC or being exposed to the public after they were caught in their room.
Mr AGBADAOLA OLAKUNLE continued enjoy life with his partner in Delta State until he was caught and arrested along side 99 others while attending a wedding of one of their gay members in an 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 a live broadcast after the arrest, a police official described the event as evil and “we cannot copy the western world. He emphasised we are Nigeria and we must follow the culture of this country.
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.
Upon interrogation, AGBADAOLA OLAKUNLE confessed that he is a member of a certain gay.
Police began torturing him and molesting him for involving in an unpardonable offence under the Nigeria constitution. In all of this, he was managed to escape from police facility due to the laxity in Nigeria security system.
Having escaped from police facility, his name were taken by local media and splashed across newspapers around the nation. This is where is parent, friends and foes got to know AGBADAOLA is a gay. This is where he started experiencing hell on earth.
Savannah News senior investigative journalist confirmed authoritatively that AGBADAOLA was molested for being a gay while he was in detention. He was beaten up mercilessly by police men.
AGBADAOLA OLAKUNLE is currently being taunting by friends and foes. He is not where to be found as of the time of filling this story possibly running for his dear life.
