By Kemi Asemota
That Nigeria has become a dangerous place to live for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and a queer (LGBTQ) person is nothing but a fact. Since 2014 when Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA), criminalizing public displays of affection between same-sex couples and restricts the work of organizations defending gay people and their rights, overzealous Nigerians, religious groups and government security apparatus have put sadistic pressure on LGBTQ community in the country.
The oppressive law imposes a 14-year prison sentence on anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union, and a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders, who witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union. It imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who directly or indirectly make [a] public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship and anyone who registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations, including supporters of those groups.
The SSMPA has taken away the legitimate rights of LGBTQ Nigerians as well as human right activists and many who support the right to live and associate. SSMPA contradicts fundamental freedom under international human rights treaties and standards, which the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantee.
Socially, emotionally and politically, LGBTQ Nigerians have been ostracized and find it hard to live in their own country and among their people as they have been deprived of love and acceptance by their families and the society at large.
Living cases abound: This year March, Shalom Shoremi, a Nigerian young lady found love in the arms of a fellow woman and on announcing she was getting married to her lover, her parents and family members promptly dissociated themselves with her. She was disowned and cast out of the family for being a lesbian. The couple turned to what they hoped would provide succor and love; the church but that also disappointed. Since no church could marry them they decided to go the Nigerian judiciary; the supposed custodian of human rights. They were again denied by the Federal Marriage Registry that turned down their request.
Last December, 47 gay men were dragged to court for public display of affection. The men were arrested in a police raid on a hotel in Lagos suburban; Egbeda. Though they pleaded innocent the police said they were being initiated into a gay club.
In an open condemnation recently, Dolapo Badmos, a Chief Superintendent and spokeswoman for the Lagos State Police Command, took to social media to ask LGBTQ Nigerians to leave the country or face persecution. She wrote: “If you’re homosexually inclined, Nigeria is not a place for you. So if you are homosexual in nature, leave the country or face prosecution.”
To make matters worse, hundreds of followers hailed her proclamation.
In July 2017, at a club in Owode Lagos, 70 men and boys were arrested by police. The police labeled them gay and extorted them before allowing them to go.
And in Abuja in 2018, a group of people armed with machetes, clubs, whips, and metal wires dragged people from their homes and severely beat at least 14 men whom they suspected of being gay.
An open gay Nigerian Bisi Alimi who spoke defiantly and brazenly for LGBTQ in Lagos and other parts of the country, had to run for his life to the United Kingdom, when living among his own people became too dangerous. He realized he could be mobbed or hacked to death anytime, any day and anywhere by angry anti-gay Nigerians who had labeled him ‘crazy’.
Bobrisky, a Nigerian transgender woman and famous social commentator has been verbally and physically assaulted. The police had attempted to arrest her several times.
That is the sorry state of people who are only different in their sexual orientations and it is rather sad that we could bring ourselves to this level.
Most states in the Northern part of the country namely, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara have criminalized LGBTQ under the criminal code and in Islamic Sharia law adopted by the states. Punishment in these states is death.
For the present government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), and following recent moves by releasing ‘prisoners of conscience’ like Omoyele Sowore and Sambo Dasuki, I’m advocating a quick repeal of the entire provisions of the SSMPA that criminalize the formation of and support of LGBTQ organizations.
The harassment of gay and gay right activists has gone on for too long. It is sheer discrimination against Nigerians and free born of this country. They are humans too and a level playing field must be provided for all. PMB need to promote effective measures to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
This government must know that LGBTQ community have been denied quality health services in Nigeria, especially in the area of HIV services. There is a need to ensure that gay Nigerians and transgender individuals have access to HIV services, care, and treatment.
I also want to call on the Human Rights Commission and Committee of Human Rights Experts to step up to be counted in this matter. One of the key functions vested in national human rights institutions is to receive and investigate complaints of human rights abuses.
The commission enjoys quasi-judicial powers to summon persons, evidences and to award compensations and enforce its decisions. The Commission should utilize this protective mandate to investigate human rights abuses committed against LGBTQ persons and begin by bringing people to justice.
LGBTQ should be seen beyond their sexual desires but as stakeholders who could genuinely help in developing their country by adding their quotas.
PMB government has done nothing about LGBTQ rights and at best it is as if they do not exist. They are here and here to stay and it is high time PMB right this wrong against humanity.
