Nigeria’s paramilitary agency, the Nigeria Security & Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), on Sunday, October 1, arrested over 25 people for attending a birthday party for gay people at Omole Phase 1 Estate in Lagos State.
According to Mr. Ibrahim Danladi, the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), Omole Police Divisional Headquarters, the police got a tip-off from a reliable source that the birthday party was strictly for gay people.
The DCO said all the attendees at the birthday party were all-male sex gender.
He said the police on receiving the information raided the party venue and arrested everyone, including the celebrant.
While many of the suspects insisted that they were not gay, the DCO disclosed that only less than 7% of the arrested persons had no incriminating evidence on them.
He disclosed that the Diivisional Police Officer (DPO) had ordered the immediate release of those persons.
Amongst those arrested, who spoke to the media, included Akintobi Jamiu Augustine, Pedro Ibidun Oluwafemi, Bakare Idris and Ikenna Ogbonna Chukwu.
According to the DCO, Akintobi Jamiu Augustine and Bakare Idris had been under the police radar prior to their arrest.
The DCO said that while the police search yielded Bakare Idris, a legal practitioner, his partner, Yusuf Ololade Omotosho, remained at large.
Meanwhile, the DCO has promised that the suspects in custody would be used as scape goats to serve as deterrent to other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) persons.
The DCO urged all LGBTQ persons to flee Nigeria while they still had time as the police would make the country unattractive and unconducive for them.
The latest arrests targeting LGBTQ persons in Nigeria followed a similar clampdown in August when the police stormed a gay wedding ceremony in the Southern city of Warri in Delta State, and arrested dozens of people.
The suspects are out on bail.
Recall that in Nigeria, like in most parts of Africa, homosexuality is generally unacceptable.
In 2014, Nigeria outlawed gay marriage, public displays of same-sex relationships, and belonging to gay groups with the passing of a law that sparked international condemnation.
Under the terms of the law, anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage or civil union can be sentenced to 14 years in prison while any such partnerships entered into abroad are considered void.
The Nigerian government has remained resolute in the fight against LGBTQ persons and are determined to bring all suspects to face the wrath of the law.
Many LGBTQ have expressed hope that Nigeria would, in time, become tolerant like the United States of America (USA) and other developed countries of the world, championing the rights of LGBTQ persons.
“All we can do now is just to wait and hope”, an LGBTQ person retorted to our correspondent.
