8 shocking human rights violations suffered by gay Nigerians
The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs), through its “Human, Not Number” advocacy project, has highlighted eight shocking cases of human rights violations suffered by LGBTIQ persons in Nigeria.
Photo for the “Human Not Number” project (Photo credit: TIERs)
By Mike Daemon
In Nigeria, LGBTIQ persons are demonized, isolated and often are seen as mentally ill, but through its “Human, Not Number” project the human rights advocacy group TIERs aims to humanize LGBTIQ persons in the eyes of other Nigerians.
The project highlights the stories of eight gay Nigerians who have experienced different forms of gross discrimination and abuse from trusted persons such as friends and people within the family circles as well as from society at large.
Read also: Rights of 286 LGBT Nigerians violated in 2018, report says
Below are summaries of six of the eight stories highlighted in the project. More detailed versions can be found HERE. The names of the victims have been changed to protect their identities.
- James
A Lagos-based Nigerian gay man who was blackmailed, extorted and raped by someone he met via Facebook.
- Edet
A man who suffered religious abuse and went through a conversion therapy conducted by a Catholic priest who repeatedly raped him during his stay at the church.
- Ifechukwu
A lesbian living in Jigawa state in the Northern Nigeria, Ifechukwu was evicted from an apartment she rented together with a friend after she refused to give in to her roommate’s advances. She was later attacked and severely beaten by a thug sent by her roommate.
- Segun
A victim of police brutality and arbitrary arrest, Segun was arrested at a birthday party by 30 policemen who shaved his hair, using the same blade they used to shave the head of over 30 other persons. He has now lost his job and is estranged from his family.
- Andy
A feminine man constantly being harassed by police officers because of his effeminate nature, Andy was arrested a few times and had to pay bribes to be released. A few years later, he was attacked and gang-raped by four men, leaving him emotionally torn and to defer his admission to focus on dealing with his mental health.
- Wealth
Arrested and harassed by the police at a birthday party, Wealth was later to taken to prison, where he was mistreated as his family struggled to try to get him out.
To read the full stories illustrated with photographs of the victims, CLICK HERE.
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This is horribly bad and horrendously heart wrenching. I feel for Andy more because he’s already at a marginal disadvantage because of his effeminate nature. This breaks my heart.
I feel very very upset and sad whenever I read about such heart breaking experiences. I wonder why people who claim to be in their right senses take pleasure in hurting others just because of their sexuality.
It even pains me more when these so called ignoramuses go to the extent of setting us up, with the senseless motive to purge the queerness out of us.
They call us an abomination, making it obvious that we are going to hell, and I’m like do y’all think that there’s a place in hell with a great inferno for just Queer people and a separate place with a much lesser inferno for the guttersnipes, the KITOS, the petty thieves, the Liars etc, well News flash, we are all going to burn in the same hell, so the earlier they understand this the better for them.
Another thing I ponder about is why there’s so much hatred for us, we didn’t steal from you,neither did we kill any member of your family, we are just there “jejely” living out our sexuality and yet you choose to hurt us, why??
I just hope things gets better in this country, so we can live out our lives, our SEXUALITY!! without fear of being estranged.