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When it was still in operation, a restaurant
at Kuramo beach, Victoria Island, Lagos
State served many Nigerians and foreigners’ different kinds of food and drinks. Operated by a young Nigerian, the eatery also had a peculiar special breed of clientele. The real customers were always on hand between 9.00pm and 2.00am, eating, drinking cavorting arid meeting new friends. A homosexual Nigerian owned the eatery and it usually served as a meeting point for gay couples. That was before members of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, got to know of the kind of the goings-on in the restaurant. The OPC, early this year, stormed and destroyed the place. End of business!
The eatery at Kuramo Beach, however, is not the only meeting point of gay people in Nigeria. At Kirikiri, in Apapa Local Government area of Lagos State, a barbing salon was established by a gay Nigerian and in the evening, it served as a hangout for many gay couples. Residents of the area got to know of the real business going on there at night and again, the OPC was invited. The barbing salon was demolished but this time, the gay people put up a stiff resistance. They invited the police who succeeded in arresting some of the OPC members. But the story changed when both, parties got to the Apapa Police Station. The OPC men c1aimedthey were on a patriotic mission to save innocent boys in the area as the barbing salon was being used to lure innocent boys into homosexuality. Of course, the complainant became the accused as many of the gay couples were clamped into detention. They, however, did not suffer long’ as an association, Alliance Rights Nigeria formed to protect the interest of gays and lesbians in Nigeria, came to their rescue. Formed five years ago by Dare Odumuye, a graduate of the University of Ibadan, UI, the group got a lawyer to demand the release of those arrested and also threatened to institute legal action against the police and the OPC. Odumuye told TELL in an interview that after much pleading, an undertaking was extracted from residents of the area that the gay community in Apapa would never be molested again. “Now that we ‘have a letter in that regard, I hope that many of my members would not be molested again.”
Odumuye, who holds a first degree in English and a postgraduate diploma in International Relations and Diplomatic Practice, was born and raised in Ibadan and he is at present pursuing a master’s degree in Human Sexuality. His father, a lawyer and administrator was once a deputy registrar of UI, while his mother, a statistician, was also a director in the Oyo State Civil Service. At 35, he is not married but declined to comment on his sexual preference. He only submitted that homosexuality is “a generic problem that happens naturally to people. We cannot help the way God, created us and should not be crucified for it” Speaking cautiously about his own experience, he said that he could think of nothing in his childhood or adolescence that predisposed him to homosexuality, adding that he just discovered as a young man that he preferred men to women.
Though statistics of gays in Nigeria are hard to come by, Odumuye suggested that 10 per cent of the population may be either gay or lesbian. In fact, if it comes to being bi-sexual, 30 percent of the population sleep with either male and female partners.
Though, it has been known to exist in the northern part of the country for a very long time where they are called ‘“Dandawudu,” it has now spread to all parts of the country owing mainly to exposure to foreign culture and films. Phrases like ‘Tan luudu” or “Mat gyaran bttuul”, as they are called in Hausa is not new in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, especially among politicians and businessmen. “Yan luudu” is the Hausa word for homosexuals while “Mat gyaran bttuul,’ meaning “beetle repairer’”’’ is a derogatory term used by many Hausas to mock the practitioners. If is an indirect way of describing the act of anal sex, where a male partner had to bend down while another male insert his manhood into his partner’s anus. To the Hausa, out of all vehicles, it is only the Volkswagen beetle that has its engine at the back.
Many youths are now being daily lured into the practice partly because of the harsh economic conditions in the country. Some young boys want to live a good life without much sweat, and politicians and reputable businessmen who enjoy the act, normally attract them with money. But aside from the pleasure they derive from the act, TELL also learnt that it is now carried out for ritual purposes.
Young and handsome boys of between the ages of 20 and 27 years are usually the target by their senior partners. While the boys offer themselves for sex, the senior partner takes responsibility of the clothing, feeding and sometimes accommodation of the junior partners. In the North, money is the name of the game. Ba’isa Aliyu, a carpenter in Maiduguri, recently recounted his ordeal in the hand of a wealthy politician in the state. Hear him tell his story: “I did some work for him and he paid me more than what he was supposed to pay. Subsequently, he was in the habit of coming to my workshop, showering me with gifts until a day he invited me for a private discussion in his house and he started to massage me”. Aliyu, who did not know that he was being lured into gay practice resisted, which annoyed the politician. For resisting the advance of his wealthy “friend”, he was banished from the politician’s house and warned not to tell anybody of what happened. Aliyu could be said to be lucky.
Charles, 18, was not that lucky. At the age of 15, he was lured into gay practice and had since not looked back. His features could be said to be his major undoing. Everything about ‘him is like that of a woman. Fair-complexioned, skinny and with a feminine voice, Charles told the magazine that he became gay at the age of 15 when men started to approach him for sexual favours. He could not resist because I was also attracted to them and since then, I have not been able to stop. Charles comes from a well-to-do family and confided in the magazine that his parents would kill him if they find out that he was gay.
If Charles still hides his sexual preference, Ifeanyi, a 28-year-old trader, is man enough to practice what brings “wealth and progress in my business. He enjoys sleeping with boys and men. When he was caught August 8, 2003 pants down around Jakande Estate, in Oshodi/lsolo Local Government area of Lagos State, by members of OPC, Ifeanyi, who hails from Anambra State, claimed to have slept with more than 60 boys since he was initiated into the act during his secondary school days in Bauchi State.
Homosexuality, indeed, worryingly, has been on the increase in Nigeria, a practice that was engaged in the past by few people in utmost secrecy is now receiving open endorsement so much so that, as in the United States of America, USA, advocacy groups are springing up fighting for gay rights. Many Nigerians would not believe how much gayism is thriving in Nigeria. In fact, recently in Ibadan, Alliance Rights, a gay advocacy group, held a symposium at UI to mark the fifth year anniversary of its existence. And. the event pulled together quite a few homosexuals although they mostly refused to speak to the magazine on sexuality.
Sadly, however, the scourge of homosexuality is already spreading to some secondary schools where gay and lesbian groups are known to exist and this culture is even more alarmingly spreading to primary schools, particularly among same sex schools with boarding facilities. This is, perhaps, particularly true of girls’ schools where over the years, lesbianism has been believed to thrive. Two female students of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Ogugua Edna and Ngozi Ezeoke were recently caught in broad daylight making love in a classroom in September, this year. Edna, from Delta State, upon interrogation by Amechi Pius, director of anti-cult squad of the school, confessed to be the leader of all lesbians in the institution and claimed to have initiated about 13 ladies into the act.
Queen’s College in Lagos is known to have a tangible number of lesbians and it has been brought to the notice of the school authorities and parents. In the school, they go by the name “pink girls” and “bubblers.” In 2003, Omolara Euler-Ajayi, the then school principal of the school, informed the school advisory council at a meeting held on May 21, 2003 that a JSS one student confessed that students do practice lesbianism after light out’. Many parents who were shocked by that disclosure promised to secure approval for the principal from the Federal Ministry of Education to dismiss any girl caught pants down and advised that teachers, matrons, house mistresses and, other members of staff should be fully involved in stamping out the problem in the school.
Examining the human sexuality and the phenomenon of homosexuality has since ancient times been a pastime that has engaged a wide range of interest groups and people including the church, clergy, psychologists, psycho analysts, sociologists and other scientists. At different times in history and in different societies and civilisations, it has been either approved of,tolerated, banned or frowned upon as a sin or taboo. The ancient Greek were said to have accepted, homosexuality and even regarded it as a higher form of love than heterosexuality. As recently as the 70’s homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness but today, it is more common to regard it as an alternative or, at the worst, an unconventional expression of sexuality.
Bukola Owoseni, a doctor and a member of Alliance Right Nigeria, said that an ongoing research in USA has shown that certain portions of the brain of homosexuals do not, develop fully compared to that of others, who normally prefer to sleep with the opposite sex.
Solomon Owunmi, a Sociology teacher at UI, and Moruf Adebakin, a clinical psychologist and a senior lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology, told the magazine in separate interviews that many of those who engage in it are deviants who for one reason or the other, do not want to conform with normal societal behaviour. To Owunini, “the society may have wronged them one way or the other and in order to punish the rest of us they start to misbehave.” Adebakin also believes that being gay or lesbian could be an adoptive behaviour formed at a very young age. According to the clinical psychologist, parents should be very observant their wards’ activities at the age three and four, which he said in Psychology, is called the phallic stage of development. “A boy who likes to play with his organ or take delight in seeing his dad or mum in the nude at that age may later develop traces of being gay in future”, he said. Though he did not rule out the influence of the environment and exposure to foreign culture, Adebakin is of the view that many of them need help and counselling. Some sex researchers corroborate some of these assertions as they say homosexual activity has a definite pattern in adolescence among males and females. Some psychologists also point-out that the environment too can predispose one to homosexuality or lesbianism. For example, in same sex schools where there are no heterosexual outlets of sexual expression, the tendency towards homosexuality increases. Psychological factors such as shyness or lack of confidence, later in life might further compound the problem of a youth in such an environment and sentence him or her perpetually to homosexuality or lesbianism.
Titus Oyedokun, a pastor, who presented, a paper entitled, “Human Sexuality,” a Christian faith-based opinion at the Alliance Rights symposium however disagreed with this and quoted the Bible to support his submission. According to him, God creates men and women for companionship, procreation and sexual gratification. “Anything outside that, for men to sleep with men or women to sleep with fellow women is a sin before God and should be condemned”, he stated emphatically. Islam too shows zero tolerance to homosexuality as death penalty is put on both partners provided either of them was not forced into the act. Saad Ngamdu, secretary-general Jamaatu Nasrul Islam, Borno State and zonal coordinator North-east, Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, observed that homosexuals or lesbians are forbidden in Islam because “they are among the cursed ones on earth and hereafter,” Ngamdu warned that “whatever they touch from sunrise to sunset will not prosper nor have Allah’s blessing.” According to the Islamic preacher, rising incidence of homosexuality was identified by Prophet Mohammed as one of the signs of the end time.
Odumuye dismissed these views, adding that the two doctrines (Christianity and Islam), are “foreign doctrines imposed on us by foreigners and I have been the bane of our development”. He was particularly hard on the Anglican Church in Nigeria for threatening to pull out of the Anglican Church worldwide over the ordination of gay bishops in the United States. The US Episcopal church had, last year, ordained Gene Robinson a gay bishop, in New Hampshire. This was widely condemned by many Anglican bishops, particularly those in Africa.
In the US, the issue of homosexuality is now a big issue with some states in the US legalising gay marriages while in some states they even have the right to adopt children. Gay Rights Movements are very strong with many politicians having to negotiate with them in order to secure their votes and cooperation. Gay couples and their lesbian counterparts openly campaigned for John Kerry, who promised to protect their rights against President George Bush, who frowned at the practice. So happy was Peter Akinola, Primate of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, that he wrote to congratulate Bush on his re-election, describing his victory as a plus for the church. Akinola and the Nigeria church may be opposed to the ordination of gay bishops, but not so many other African Anglican bishops. This much was obvious at the recently concluded African Anglican Bishops Conference held in Lagos, Nigeria, which failed to take a position on the matter. Akinola declared homosexuality an “abomination,” which contradicts the Bible and primordial African values. But depicting the lack of unanimity on the issue, Njongonkulu Ndungane, archbishop of Cape Town, said that his church was committed to its entire congregation, including homosexuals.
Besides the issue of what drives some people into homosexuality, there is also the legal angle. Hakeem Yusuf, a lawyer informed the magazine that chapter 21, section 217 of the Law of Lagos State, which deals specifically with unnatural offences against morality prescribed a 14-year jail term for homosexuals. That section states that “Any person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature, or has carnal knowledge of an animal or permit a male person to have a carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature is guilty of a felony and he is liable to imprisonment for 14 years.”
Emma Ighodalo, the spokesperson of the Lagos Police Command told the magazine that homosexuality is still an offence in the country and that the police will continue to arrest offenders.
Odumuye, however, dismissed the law as a British law “imposed on the country by our colonial masters” .He insisted that Alliance Rights was formed to protect the interest of gay and lesbians who in spite of being in the minority in the country are legitimate citizens. The gay activist said the attitude to heterosexuals was hypocritical, adding that many prominent Nigerians are gay but in order to conform to societal expectations “get married and have children while they continue to chase boys up and down.”
Here, indeed, Odumuye hit the nail on the head for truly, the general perception is that there exists in the country a cult of prominent Nigerians who sustain the practice. In fact, it is believed that such rich and powerful Nigerians with their ability to lure younger lovers and enrich as well as empower them have more than anything else helped to spread and popularise the queer sexual practice.
Additional reports by Abdulrafiu Lawai and Musikilu Mojeed.
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