May They Rest In Peace

I’d just come back from a hectic day at work on Monday, had my bath and was trying to recover from the bitch of a day I’d had – when my roommate walked in, exclaiming as he handed me his phone.

“See this guy wey dey call himself Utali… He don kill one TB guy!”

And just like that, I was introduced to the viral video of two guys who’d been caught trying to bury a gay guy they’d intended to kito, but ended up murdering.

Over twenty thousand naira!

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A gay man who they said promised to give one of them N20,000 if he agrees to become his lover. . . According to the main kito scum (for the benefit of those who don't understand Igbo), the gay guy linked up with him on Facebook, and after admitting that he's gay and would like them to hook up, they agreed for the gay guy to visit him in his village from Owerri. They'd also agreed for the gay guy to give him 20,000 naira. . . Except the kito scum simply wanted to beat him and take the money. So he asked his friend over, and the situation resulted in a fight, during which they KILLED the gay guy. . . They MURDERED someone over nothing but their greed and his homosexuality. . . This video breaks my heart, because it reminds me of my friend who's still lost. My friend whose disappearance we believe is linked to a kito situation. A friend who everyone now believes is dead. . . These guys willfully and intentionally killed a person simply because they saw an opportunity to make a quick twenty thousand naira. For that, this guy's family and friends will no longer know him to be alive and well. . . My heart breaks for all of us in this community, who just want to live, but cannot because of the vice of Nigeria's homophobia.

A post shared by Kito Diaries (@kito_diaries) on Mar 9, 2020 at 6:05am PDT

As I watched this video with swelling depression and rage, I remember seeing this Utali guy’s picture being exposed as someone dangerous to our community on Facebook. And I wondered if the guy he killed even knew he’d been exposed as kito on social media before setting off to go see him. Or if he knew but threw caution to the wind, because he had to get some.

Because I could relate to that. I could remember the time last year, when I almost died from a kito experience in Iyana Iba. Pink Panther had been shouting it from the all the social media pages of Kito Diaries: that nothing good comes out of Iyana Iba.

And yet, I set out on a hookup that almost left me lifeless and in the hospital for two weeks with a police case on my head.

Sometimes, we are so consumed with our desires, we imagine that our case would be different in those situations that have been exposed as dangerous.

And now, seeing that yet another young man in our community had lost his life, knowing what kind of pain his loved ones would undoubtedly be going through, the added shame they’d be living under from the publicity of their son’s sexuality – this caused a great sadness to well up inside me.

And so, tonight, I light candles in my mind for this departed soul. I light candles for my deceased friends, Kosisochukwu and Tayo and all other beautiful souls who lost their lives due to the hate and homophobia in Nigeria.

Even thought their deaths were violent, may their souls rest in peace.

Written by Marc Gerrard

FINAL WORD: I want to use this medium to bring to our attention the petition that a KDian opened to impress on the Nigerian Police the need to pursue the case of this Utali and his friend murdering a fellow Nigerian, whose only crime was to be gay.

You can sign the petition HERE, and we can continue to hope and pray and fight for our rights to exist equally and without prejudice in the country we call home.