“Nigerian Homophobes Should Stay Here And Enjoy The Shit.” Olumide Makanjuola mocks the Nigerian outrage over Western penalization of homophobia

There has been a recent awareness on Nigerian social media of how Nigerians seeking opportunities abroad are met with disappointment after their homophobic past is brought up to discredit their efforts. This conversation started trending in early January after some tweets made by Twitter user, Dennis Macaulay, detailed how, by sending information of the social media homophobic behaviour of a person seeking scholarship abroad, he was able to bring about the rejection of the scholarship. The tweets went viral and while queer Nigerians applauded the swift actions of karma, homophobic Nigerians reacted with outrage.

One such homophobic Nigerian, @OgbePamella, tweeted her anger at how “vile” it is to “actively go after people’s scholarship”, and reminding everyone that “first to do no dey pain.”

Well, Gay Twitter was swift to agree with her that indeed, “first to do no dey pain, because na second to do dey pain enter blood”, and that is why the consequences of such prejudices like homophobia visited upon the average bigoted Nigerian, who is not used to being held accountable for their bias, is a joy to witness.

The conversation was sustained by the subsequent and viral exposure of the homophobia of activist Aisha Yesufu. Aisha Yesufu is a socio-political activist who gained nationwide prominence with the End SARS protest last October, when a photo of her raising her fist in defiance of approaching uniformed forces quickly became the face of the movement, with the upraised fist becoming the unofficial logo for the End SARS protests. And for a few months, Nigerians universally adored her for the defiance to government tyranny that she appeared to represent.

Until January, when Nigerian Twitter exploded with accusations of Yesufu’s homophobia which were supported by screenshots of horrific tweets she made back in 2019 where she fed the false narrative that homosexuality is linked with the male child molestation. As Aisha doubled down on what she tweeted, further pushing out more shockingly-ignorant views, there were reactions from queer Nigerians calling for her to be de-platformed internationally.

And in that vein, to preserve Aisha Yesufu’s very public show of bias, Twitter user Kayode Ani compiled a timeline of everything she’s said and tweeted that was malignantly targeted at the LGBT community. (You may check that out HERE.)

And so, because this reality of accountability over discriminatory behaviour is new to Nigerians, yet another problematic social media user, @drpenking, took to Twitter on January 20 to express his shock at the fact that someone he knows just got denied an opportunity abroad after their homophobic past came to haunt them.

“Today, they denied my Doctor friend VISA to Australia for a scholarship she won for Masters in Public Health because of a thread she made about Homosexuality 3 years ago. They said she is homophobic. Christ!” he fumed, before going on to lecture Twitter on what homophobia really means, a definition that doesn’t include what his friend did, which was merely to outline “dangers of homosexuality and warning people against it.”

Among the reactions to this is this gem from activist and former TIERs director Olumide Makanjuola. He tweeted: “What’s you people obsession with going to countries that respect human rights for all and treat people with dignity? Let her stay here and continue to enjoy the collective shitty treatment.”

Other people weighed in as his tweets went viral, making their way to Instagram and Facebook, and before long, the good doctor’s past also began to rise from the grave, as receipts of his own prejudices were unearthed.

Apparently, @drpenking has child molestation tendencies…

Is misogynistic…

And, surprise, surprise, is homophobic!

We do hope Karma stays with him in his future endeavours.

Nigerians need to understand that with actions come consequences, and those consequences will find you when you step away from the cesspool of your home country, where bad behaviour is condoned, onto the international stage where it is largely penalized.