Police in Nigeria have arrested a whopping 57 men in a raid alleging a gay sex cult. It happened in the city of Egbeda in the province of Lagos, and marked the second such raid this month. Nigeria has a long and unfortunate history of violence and discrimination toward LGBTQ men.
Police raided the Kelly Ann Hotel & Event Center based on informant tips. There, they discovered an overnight party with about 80 men in attendance. Suspecting the presence of illegal gays and illegal substances, police managed to arrest 57 individuals, all of whom deny any wrongdoing.
“It was a birthday party and majority of us don’t know one another,” Igo Awoye, one of the accused, told the Nigerian newspaper The Premium Times. “I was invited by my friend Muyiwa for the party, and we were not only guys in the party, few ladies were with us and other ladies were in the hotel rooms getting dressed for the party. Since it was a party, a social gathering, there were lots of males than females.” Law enforcement did not arrest any women in the raid.
Related: Nigerian Men Turned In By Gay Lover, Stripped Naked And Beaten
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Police have further alleged that the party was part of an initiation ritual for a gay cult. Law forbids homosexuality in Nigeria, where some provinces prescribe stoning to death for anyone convicted of the crime. Because the raid happened in Lagos, the accused could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Treatment of LGBTQ people in Nigeria–and more broadly, in Africa as a whole–has become the subject of international controversy in recent years. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Theresa May attracted criticism from Nigerian politicians for condemning anti-gay laws in the country.
StraightnNarrow
If one lives in a country like Indonesia or Nigeria or any other African country where being gay is illegal, one is better off living in the closet. The punishment is just too harsh and the law is still the law.
Xzamilloh
Oh, you spammers are just the worst.
theafricanwiththemouth
lol, i don’t get what you mean @xzamilloh but he is a 100% right!!
Xzamilloh
There was spam above his comment, but Queerty has removed it
Xzamilloh
*this
Chrisk
It’s a the wet dream for many fundamentalist Christians here.
You got to give this African shit hole credit though. Nothing but corruption and civil war and they still manage to get 102 million per year in humanitarian aid from us tax payers. Great priorities they got.
Kangol
First, Nigeria is not in a “civil war”; what are you talking about? Nigeria’s civil war ran from 1967-1970 (the Biafran War).
Second, Nigeria’s GDP is $1 trillion; its GDP growth is 2.7%; and it’s one of the major oil producers in the world. It does receive a sizable amount of US aid–roughly $350 million, not “102 million”–do you just pull figures out of your behind?–but it also has been a flashpoint in the Bush-initiated “Global War on Terror.” The homegrown Boko Haram Islamicist terrorists, liked to Al Qaeda, are among the worst in the world.
Third, Nigeria is corrupt and is a grossly economically unequal society, but that has little to do with its government-legislated anti-gay laws, which are colonial relics of British rule. Wherever Britain had colonies, it imposed anti-gay laws that have been hard to repeal. On top of this, Christian fundamentalists and Islamicist fanatics have exploited the colonial anti-gay law, with the extreme punishment in Nigeria’s Muslim north.
Kieran
If Jews were being rounded up and put under arrest in Nigeria, the US Congress would cut off that $350 million in US foreign aid in a New York minute. Why don’t these “black lives matter” in Nigeria?
Where is the Gay clout in Congress?
Chrisk
You’re right on the civil war. I was thinking of one of their neighbors.
StraightnNarrow
Kangol, your blame on British rule for Nigeria’s backward anti-gay stance is totally misguided. UK was the most powerful empire in the 19th century and it should be credited for its efforts in elevating half of the underdeveloped world from its primitive cultures. Its anti-gay feeling was not unique to the British. The entire world was anti-gay at that time and some of the countries, the Muslim ones included, were even worse. Nigeria chooses its anti-gay policy because that’s what their government and their people feel about gays due to the Muslim religion.
Heywood Jablowme
@StraightnNarrow:
(although your screen name is a bit disturbing… hmph!)
Yes, I’ve always found the “blame the British” attitude to be puzzling. Nigeria became independent almost 60 years ago, Jamaica too, India over 70 years ago, etc., yet somehow their hands are always tied by those pesky British colonial laws.
Still, there IS a little something to it, since the former French, Dutch and Portuguese colonies generally do quite a bit better with gay rights. Maybe an exception in the case of Indonesia (ex-Dutch, but very Muslim). The French Revolution and both Napoleons (#I & #III) were unenthusiastic about sodomy laws (unlike the Brits) and this had a good affect on sexual attitudes throughout the French colonies until the end. Something to think about, and interesting to look into.
theafricanwiththemouth
@Heywood Jawblowme Nigerias homophobia definitely isn’t entirely as a result of british colonialism (if at all its anyway related), Nigerian traditions have always been homophobic to the core. I don’t know how the brits had anyway of influencing this, but Nigerian homophobia is not (entirely) the fault of colonial masters and has always been seen as taboo across the various Nigerian cultures and traditions.
Sadly, this is something that wouldn’t have changed even if the brits didn’t have a hand in Nigerian history. This homophobia would still be present and maybe even worse. There’s no need excusing the amount of hatred majority of Nigerians (or Africans at large) have for LGBT folk with colonialism this and colonialism that. Because prior to colonialism, in the great Benin empire (and across other Nigerian cultures) homosexuality was a taboo. The brits didn’t have a hand in that.
You can take this from me (or not…).
Heywood Jablowme
@theafricanwiththemouth:
Oh, I believe you. Homophobia in west Africa definitely predates colonialism (AND Islam/Christianity).
Also I realize the African colonial borders were extremely arbitrary, so it would be interesting to look at, say, adjacent ex-French and ex-British countries with similar ethnic demographics and somewhat similar pre-colonial histories, to see what differences in modern-day homophobia there are (if any). Oh well, that’s a Ph.D. thesis I’ll never get around to, but maybe someone out there will be intrigued!
rbernard?
It is pure insanity for a government entity to seek out and harm those poor men on the possibility that maybe they just might love one another.
Nigeria is a hell hole that will never be on my list of must see destinations.
Scout
Looking at a few of those hot guys, I wouldn’t mind being a member of their cult, and I don’t want any of them flogged, pushed off roofs, or stoned to death. They can live with me.
Kangol
If people would like to support LGBTQ people in Nigeria and other countries in Africa or other parts of the globe where we’re facing harm (Russia, Jamaica, Lithuania, Iran, etc.), one way is to support OutRight Action International, which works with local groups in the affected countries all over the globe, pressures the UN and national leaders, etc., issues reports about anti-LGBTQ violence, and more. They can always use support if you can spare it. (I’m not affiliated with the organization in any way.)
Nigeria also has a domestic organization, The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs), which actively works on behalf of sexual minorities–LGBTQs–in Nigeria.They provide advocacy, legal representation, education, protection (where possible), and more for LGBTQs there. (I also have no affiliation with this organization in any way.)
Queerty doesn’t allow links, so you can find them both via Google.
Heywood Jablowme
I don’t know where you got the impression that Queerty doesn’t allow links?
https://www.outrightinternational.org/
Heywood Jablowme
The link prohibition seems to be new? (I’ve done links in the past.) Must be that spammer’s fault. 🙁
OutRight Action International is a great organization!
bcborn
When is the world going to wake up! Being gay is not a choice, just like who your birth parents are isn’t a choice. Who in their right mind would choose a gay lifestyle knowing the vile treatment that some choose against them. The reason these countries are the way they are towards gays is because of BULLSHIT religion. Which teaches ignorance and hate around the world. Lets not forget gay men and women are products of straight people.
Donston
The whole what’s a choice and what’s not is a shaky debate that I don’t feel does anyone any good. I certainly don’t have to live a “mostly gay lifestyle” and I don’t have to be married to a man. I have enough attraction and affection towards women that I’d be cool not dealing with any of it. However, I choose to embrace my substantial and persist passions, romantic fulfillment and overall contentment.
Everyone is different. And everyone is motivated by different things. You’d be surprised to find out the reasoning behind some people’s “lifestyles”.
GayEGO
Living our lives as who we are in America, not who others tell us to be, is what makes us happy. I am originally am from Idaho, I joined the Navy in 1959, met my lifetime partner in 1962, we got married in 2004, and we are both retired and living the American dream. Religious bigots are the main problem that holds countries back in the dark ages, but little by little as information educates civilization that we live like they do and are not a threat to them, they learn and evolve to accept us as who we are.
irbaboon
Yet another example of how rotten muslims and christians are
Kieran
” Law forbids homosexuality in Nigeria, where some provinces prescribe stoning to death for anyone convicted of the crime. ”
By “some provinces” I’m assuming you mean the parts of Nigeria under Islamic Law?
GayEGO
Well, any country that has not learned that we are part of normal civilization as science has proven, it simply behind the times.
theafricanwiththemouth
I hate reading up articles like these, as necessary as they are though, it reminds me of how fu**ed up life is and how far Nigeria still has to go.